It is not until Queenstown experiences a winter such as this that people realise where their season-pass dollars go and, for NZSki, extensive and expensive development over the past three years has paid off in spades.
NZSki chief executive James Coddington is in his fifth season with the company, driven, he says, to help deliver the best product possible and ensure staff leave the season better off both personally and professionally.
As parent company of Coronet Peak, the Remarkables Ski Area and Canterbury field Mt Hutt, NZSki has enacted a raft of upgrades and additions in Queenstown since 2008.
Mr Coddington's list includes a new base building and chairlift for Coronet Peak, more earthworks this year than in the past 25 years combined for the Remarkables, as well as the completion of the access road railings at Remarks, 10 4WD buses, and most importantly, 180 new snowguns between the fields.
Understandably, he says these snowguns are one of the most influential developments for Queenstown's skifields over the last three years and a saviour considering this winter's first real snowfall did not arrive until July.
"At Coronet Peak, the investment in snow-making and the base building has redefined the way we do business, expanding capacity, and has allowed us to have more assurance around the start and end of the season."
Moving from bumper ski seasons in 2008 and 2009, this snow-making technology also allowed Coronet Peak to open as scheduled last season.
He said the late season opening this year was an "anomaly" but would have been worse without their investment.
Mr Coddington put the cost of the development at "tens of millions of dollars", and that cost has translated into a $190 increase for adult earlybird passes for the Remarkables and Coronet Peak since 2008, sparking an outcry from many locals.
Mr Coddington said NZSki had taken feedback on board and would be "taking that into our discussions" for next season's prices.
However, it was too early to tell what the outcome would be, particularly given it had been a financially "tough" year.
On the heels of recent development, NZSki still had "big plans" to develop the ski areas for both the community and the important Australian market.
"We still have a long way to go - we are aspiring to become a world leader and we will continue to strive to deliver benefits to the community and our future visitors," Mr Coddington said.
When pressed by the Queenstown Times on specifics and if these plans involved opening up more of the area to skiers, sealing the access road, or launching night skiing, Mr Coddington said only that the company's big plans for the area were mostly "dependent on consent approvals and business levels".
Like the Queenstown Times, also in its formative stages in 2008 was a concept to bring top-level winter sport athletes from the Pacific Rim to New Zealand - a concept later named Winter Games New Zealand.
The brainchild of Queenstown local Sir Eion Edgar, the concept came to fruition in 2009 when the inaugural games were launched with the support of central government, the New Zealand Olympic Committee and Sparc.
"The Americans had proposed summer games, so I said why don't we have a winter games, as all of the other countries who are in the Pacific Rim are in the northern hemisphere - so there was an opportunity for us to host something that everyone would all want to attend," Sir Eion said.
Winter Games chief executive Arthur Klap, then event manager and BikeNZ chairman, had been approached to conduct a feasibility study in 2006.
With favourable findings, Mr Klap had by 2008 visited Olympic and sporting committees around the world canvassing opinion and gaining support for the concept.
"We wanted to give a higher profile to winter sport, provide more for local athletes and also give locals the chance to see world-class athletes," Sir Eion said.
"The final aspect of the experience was that the programme included para-athletes and able-bodied athletes - that was a world first - competing on the same course at the same time, and that proved to be a great success, and proved the winter games to be something new."
With the Winter Games 2009 pronounced a triumph, thoughts rapidly turned to the second games, which started last Saturday.
Mr Klap said organisers would eventually work to make the games an annual event.
"I'm sure we will be running again in 2013, but some of the options that exist mean it could be that in 2014 we are looking at the first of the annual games."
With organisers set to decide on this late this year, they are aiming for "five to 10 thousand visitors over and above competitors and team management" at the 2013 games.
And in 15 years' time?
Mr Klap hopes the games will be financially self-sustainable and "established nationally and internationally as a must for competitors and followers of the games"
NZSki developments since 2008 at a glance
CORONET PEAK
• 150 new snow guns
• 3 new reservoirs
• New detachable chairlift
• New rental systems
• 2 new conveyor lifts
• New direct-to-lift ticketing system
• New tracks
THE REMARKABLES
• 30 new snow guns
• 2 new conveyor lifts
• New rental system
• Four 4WD buses
• 2 new groomers
• Base building revamp
• New direct-to-lift ticketing system
• New tracks
Achieved objectives of 2009 Winter Games
1. To attract 800 competitors and 400 supporters/team management to the games
2. To successfully host a Winter Games NZ at an international level as per the requirements of the relevant international sports bodies.
3. To obtain an international television audience reach of 300 million, primarily in New Zealand's target tourism markets.
4. To at least break even financially.
