The bitter cold of recent days had a silver lining - well, white covering.
There is plenty of snow on the region's skifields.
After big snow falls yesterday and over the weekend, the upper mountain bases are sitting at a healthy 181cm (Turoa) and 212cm (Whakapapa).
Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) chief executive Dave Mazey said yesterday morning that more than 15cm of fresh snow fell in the past 24 hours at Turoa and 10cm at Whakapapa. This is on top of the metre that fell over the past four to five days.
"It's great to see the mountain now fully covered with snow, especially with clear days forecast this weekend at Turoa and Whakapapa," said Mazey.