Queenstown kitchen hand Matthew Rovers was first of the first, having arrived up the mountain at 1pm on Friday.
Ready for a cold night, he was wearing a wetsuit under several layers of clothes and carrying sleeping bags.
He was joined about 2.30pm on Friday by liquor-shop employees Karl Hunt and Brendon Cameron.
Mr Rovers said he managed to get about six hours' sleep on the 2degC night.
"It was great. We drank a bit and slept a bit. It was fun. It had to be done."
He won about $60 from bets laid by his workmates that he would not see out the night on the hill but admitted a bottle of whisky helped keep the cold at bay.
"The snow is very good at the top - pristine, flat, corduroy - but it got a bit rolly at the bottom," Mr Rovers reported after his first run.
The trio were joined on the chairlift by Queenstown student Michael Pepper. who had camped with five other students in vehicles in the car park.
Four Queenstown 15-year-olds also camped out overnight so they could be first on the new Meadow Express chairlift.
Andrew Benington, Jonty Norton, Connor Gambles and Conor Dolman arrived up the mountain at 7pm on Friday.
Queenstown couple Jef Desbecker and Robina Bodle said it was their 25th opening day at Coronet Peak.
"For the first 16 [openings] we were first on the chair. It wasn't such a big deal then," Ms Bodle said.
They arrived on the mountain at 6.15am and Mr Desbecker "skinned" to the top of the mountain twice on his skis for a couple of runs and still managed to be on the second chair of the Coronet Express chairlift.
"It was great. It's a balmy morning and the snow is so beautiful as the sun is rising. It was lovely and quiet before the crowds arrived," he said.
NZSki chief executive James Coddington said it was a "fantastic" opening day.
"We have a lot of smiling faces and our new technology and lifts are working well," he said.
The company launched its new system for checking passes.
The radio-frequency ID system places a microchip on all-day passes or season passes so they can be read through clothing by scanners.
The technology was put under pressure by the sheer numbers but passed all the tests, he said.
Mr Coddington pair tribute to the staff who helped move snow on to the slopes so the field could open as scheduled.
"We had about 100 people shovelling snow for the past three days on to the runs.
They did a phenomenal job."
