Frisco Hut
(Frisco Hut: Photo Andrew Buglass 2007: Double click to get larger image)
Maintenance Status
Frisco Hut is designated as minimal maintenance and up until
2011 there were no extant access tracks. The original connecting tracks put in by the NZFS had been unmaintained from the
mid-70's onward and had overgrown and vanished in many places. In 2011 volunteers recut the track
from Frisco down to Darby Creek, connecting it with the maintained Frew - Toaroha Saddle circuit between
Poet Hut and Bluff Hut.
The remains of the downvalley track system from Frisco to Serpentine Hut
and beyond is for wilderness afficionados only.
Location
Hokitika catchment. Map BV19. Altitude 915m. Grid Ref: E1446095/ N5233930.
Frisco is located on a small bench
on the montane faces high above the Frisco Canyon.
There are great views from the site
out over the Hokitika valley
to Conway Ridge, the Meta Range, and the peaks of the
Whitcombe. On still days the faint rumble of
avalanches can be heard coming from the Bracken Snowfield.
The isolation and solitude at Frisco is palpable, confirmed by a hutbook which is a
short, and interesting slice of history going back
20 years in a half dozen pages. The Hut has always been low-use and by 2000 visits
had and dropped to around one
every 2-3 years. A Hut with no track. Traffic picked up to around one visit
per year after the Hut was profiled on this site. 2010 was particularly busy
with two visits, and hopefully this will increase now that the Darby Creek track is recut.
Access
For those who prefer tracks, Frisco can now be accessed from either Poet Hut in the
Mungo River, or
Bluff Hut in the Hokitika. Boulderhop down the TR of the Hokitika from the Bluff
swingbridge for 15-20 minutes to Darby Creek. There remnants of the original track are up on the terrace somewhere,
but the boulders are probably the better option currently.
Darby Creek is easy to cross at normal flows, but could be tricky
after heavy rain.
The track entrance is 100m up the Creek on the TR and is marked with a white permolat cross. It goes
straight up the ridge (which is quite narrow in places) to around the 800m contour. Here it leaves
the ridge and sidles West across a series of of regenerating slips and
actively eroding guts.
Two of the guts need up-climbing to
maintain the sidle and the various entry and exit points are marked with a mix of permolat,
cruise-tape and cairns.
Following this the track sidles though montane forest in and out of the upper branches of Detour Creek.
It climbs a small regenerating slip
onto the bench where the Hut is located.
Allow around three hours to reach Frisco from Bluff Hut or Poet Hut,
or two and a half days from either the
Toaraha or Hokitika roadend.
The quickest access to Frisco in good conditions is still over the Diedrich Range tops from Mullins Basin,
This takes two days and and requires higher levels of fitness and experience
than the tracked routes. Head from Mullins Hut up the TR fork
of Mullins Creek until just before
it enters a steep-sided gorge. There is a small stream on the TR marked with a rock cairn and cruise tape.
Head up this taking
the TL fork where it branches. The creek becomes a dry channel further up and leads
to the tussock boundary in the upper basin, around
E1447205/ N5237440.
Traverse the basin through scattered scrub and tussock
onto northern slopes of Mt. Ross, cross the summit and
drop south onto a flat bench at the 1500m contour. An open rock gut
at the western end of the bench (E1447605/ N5234895) provides easy access down into Darby Creek basin.
Head up Darby Creek a short distance, then up the steep ridge on its TR onto point
1510m. Drop down the SW spur of this peak onto a prominent tussock
bench with tarns just above the scrubline (E1446195/ N5234400).
From the SW end of this bench cruise tape and the odd bit of permolat
lead down through scattered alpine scrub in a SW direction
to the top the scrub faces above the Hut. The toilet and part of the roof
come into view here. Follow the cruise tape from the edge of the bench down
a steep narrow gut onto a steepish face with scattered Olearia and
open patches. The route drops into a more open gut further dwon, which intersects
the Frisco trackline on a regenerating slip 50m East of the Hut.
A bit of trimming and cruise-taping
has been done in places on the route down, but it is still easy to overshoot the track
and end up down in the
Hokitika. Allow 5-6 hours for the crossing from Mullins.
There is a more direct crossing into Darby Creek basin from Mullins over an unnamed
Saddle at the head of the upper basin. The faces on the Darby Creek
side of this saddle are steep, eroding and exposed. There are some vertical sections not visible from above
that need to be avoided. Care needs to be taken
here picking your route down.
Drop into Darby Creek, cross and climb up onto the ridge bounding the TR of the basin. Follow this down to
point 1510m and continue down to the Hut as per the Mt. Ross traverse.
There is a route from Top Toaroha Hut onto the Diedrich Range up
the blown-out creek that enters the Toaroha at the bottom of the small lake just below the Hut.
The creek is still actively eroding, but provides access all the way to the tussock. Climb the gentle tussock
slopes above the head of the creek onto the crest of the
Range. Continue up the ridge up towards Mt. Ross, but sidle West off it
just after point 1524m and sidle around
the 1500m contour line to the gut above Darby Creek basin used in the Mullins route.
The route to Frisco from
Toaroha Saddle Biv is up the long leading ridge up towards Mt. Ross. Sidle West off it
at the same palce as the Top Toaroha route and continue from there.
There is an open area next to the Hut that allows
helicopter access.
Type
Frisco is a standard 4-bunk NZFS design
built around 1964. It is unlined. The original fireplace was removed
very early on by NZFS who added a toilet 1983. The toilet was constructed from materials
salvaged from the dismantled Lower Toaroha and
Lower Kokatahi huts. It has one of the best
loo-views in the region. A small
creek 20m down the old track towards Serpentine provides water.
Condition
Frisco is in pretty good condition considering the decades of zero
maintenenance post NZFS.
The exterior was repainted and resealed by DOC in 2004 and some of the rotten framing was
replaced, along with
one of the piles. Wooden slats were put on the bunks over the original saggy wire mesh.
One of the cupboards
by the door was removed to make more space. A pile on the west side and
the bearer
resting on it are starting to rot, as is the middle pile under the Hut. Some water appears
to be getting into the Hut
at the bottom of the window at the southern end, and at the end wall left of the door. There is
dry rot in some of the framing under the end window. A couple of the dwangs and at least one stud need replacing here.
The toilet is starting to lean a bit and needs straightening.
Other Routes
Accessing Frisco from the lower Hokitika and roadend is pure wilderness experience
entailing possibly three days of arduous
bush and river travel. From Serpentine Hut
follow the riverbed to Nogo Creek. The old FS track up the TR has vanished,
but travel up the River is relatively easy at normal flows, and it takes around an hour
to get up to the Nogo.
A ford to the TL of the Hokitika
is required to avoid,
a waterfall in the unnamed side creek immediately downriver from Bonar Creek.
This is usually done at the bottom
end of a small gorge where River veers East (around E1443912/ N5235376) where the water is
waist-deep, but slow moving at normal flows.
Continue up to Nogo Creek on the TL and cross back near or opposite it.
The old Frisco track goes up the ridge
on the TL of Nogo Creek and had its entrance cleared in 2007.
A permolatted survey line from the mid 1980's overlays much of the original trackline and although
reasonably easy to follow, travel is slow due to
dense stands of regenerating hardwoods and windthrow.
In the montane zone the track becomes easy to follow for a short stretch where the ridge becomes better defined.
Around point 910m the ridge flattens and the track
disappears in dense sub-alpine scrub with open marshy patches and wallow holes.
It can be relocated with a bit of good detective work in a small bush covered gut
where the spur starts to steepen again. The track goes up the gut to and passes a turnoff to an old tops
track. The Frisco track leaves the ridge here and sidles
upriver across the bush faces
towards the Hut. It be followed with care and has a reasonable amount
of permolat still. Allow 6-8 hours travel time for the journey from Serpentine to Frisco.
Access from Gerhardt Spur Biv Spur to Frisco is possible via a traverse of the
the Diedrich Range.
Jumbletop can be avoided by dropping from the Biv into the head
of Diedrich Creek and climbing back out onto the main Range at the low point between
Jumbletop and
O'Connor. The top of this climb is steep and a bit exposed.
A traverse of the middle and high peaks of O'Connor can be avoided by sidling
from the low peak
around the Mullins side and along a conspicuous bench at the 1600m contour. Reconnect with the
Range at the low point between
Mt. O'Connor and point 1718m. Follow the crest of the Range from here to point 1510m
above Frisco Hut. The route down to Frisco
from here is the same as the Mullins route.
Access to the Diedrich Range tops from Frisco Hut is up the regenerating slip 50m East of the Hut.
This turns into a gut further up, then passess through a band of scattered large olearia before ascending
a narrow steep rocky gut to the tussock line. The route has been roughly trimmed in places and
has the odd bit of old cruise-tape. I've erroneously noted in the Frisco hutbook that it starts
further East where the track crosses an upper branch of Director Creek. Please cross this out in the hutbook
if you happen to be visiting.
Repairs
The two dozy piles and bearer will need replacing in the medium term. Some
leak sealing work is required and the dwangs and studs with
dry rot need replacing. The toilet needs straightening. A wood burner and bath tub would be a great addition.
Provisions on Site
Two useable billies. Two others have paint on the insides (the DOC contractors used them to mix paint in). There
is a broom, one
glass and 10 perspex louvre panes, a large box of assorted small flathead nails, a small amount of white permolat,
an aluminium wash basin, a small camp oven, a slasher, a shovel, a flat file,
and some leftovers from a
roll of No. 8 wire.
