About 2000 skiers and snowboarders took to the snow on the The Remarkables ski area for Saturday's opening day, about 500 more than last year.
Ski area manager Ross Lawrence said: "I think, in part, that's because of the excellent pricing structure for the season passes. We've certainly seen a few more of those.''
There appeared to be more locals than last year and plenty of families, he said.
In terms of conditions, Mr Lawrence said The Remarkables was holding its own, despite mild temperatures.
The minimum base had dropped by half, to 40cm, in a week and was well down from the 1m at last season's opening.
However, the field was able to fire up the snow guns for a short period yesterday, when temperatures dropped to about freezing.
"It's early season,'' he said.
"We're happy with the coverage we've got at this time of the year but, as always, we'd like to see more.''
The Prigg family, from the Gold Coast, were enjoying their first day on snow.
Michael Prigg said his first impression was: "Not as cold as I thought it would be - it looks like a big slushy.''
He and wife Rebecca were throwing more snowballs than children Ryan (9) and Kayla (7), he said.
It was the end of their month-long New Zealand trip, their first overseas holiday as a family.
They planned to visit Coronet Peak yesterday.
First on The Remarkables' Curvey Basin chair on Saturday were Angelique Vinnedge, of Canada, - who also claimed that honour the previous week when sister ski area Coronet Peak opened - and boyfriend Jesse James Johnston.
They arrived at 3.15am, along with friends Morgan Harteveld and Josh Martin.
All beginners' areas were open and 80% of the intermediate terrain.
Meanwhile, across the valley at Coronet Peak, the Greengates and Rocky Gully T-Bar lifts were closed because of marginal snow condition.
The base there was 15cm and off-piste conditions were described as "a wee bit agricultural''.
Mr Lawrence said the coming weekend promised to be busy with the start of Australian school holidays.
