Frisco Hut
(Frisco Hut: Photo Andrew Buglass 2007)
Maintenance Status
Frisco has been designated as
minimal maintenance. The original access tracks to the Hut have not received any
official maintenance since
the days of the Forest Service and have completely overgrown, or vanished.
Location
Hokitika catchment: BV19. Altitude 915m. Grid Ref: E1446095/ N5233930.
Frisco is located on a small bench
in the montane forest high on the TR faces of the Hokitika River.
There are great views
from Frisco out over the Hokitika valley
to Conway Ridge and Mt. Meta. The distant peaks of the
Whitcombe are visible and on still days the faint rumble of
avalanches coming off the Bracken Snowfield may be heard.
The isolation and sense of solitude at Frisco is palpable and visitors
rare, about one
every 2-3 years. The hutbook is a short but interesting read that
spans 20 years in a half dozen or so pages.
Access
Maintenance on the Frisco tracks ceased over 30 years ago and in many places
they have vanished completely. Odd sections can be followed with reasonable care, but
in other places it's bush-bashing
with an occasional bit of permolat for reassurance. The access currently is via the
Diedrich Range
tops from the Toaroha Valley.
If you are brave enough to want to travel upriver
from the Hokitika roadend you'd need to allow around three fairly arduous days
of bush and river travel. Serpentine Hut is still there
further down the valley, but the old track from it up the TR of the valley to Nogo
Creek has
effectively vanished. Fortunately,
travel up the riverbed on this section is relatively easy and at normal flows you can get
from Serpentine the Nogo in around an hour. To do this it is neceessary to ford the Hokitika
the to the TL to avoid,
a waterfall in Bonar Creek. This can be done at the downriver
end of a small gorge
below the Bonar where the water is waist-deep, but slow moving.
There are some reasonable fords back to the TR just below the Nogo.
The old Frisco track goes up the ridge
on the TL of the Nogo Creek. Its entrance was cleared and re-marked in 2007.
A marked animal survey line from the mid 1980's overlays the original trackline
here, so there is a
reasonable amount of permolat follow. The going is still reasonably arduous
however, due to dense pole stands of quintinia and other hardwoods.
In the montane zone the track opens up briefly where the ridge is more defined.
At spot height 910m the ridge flattens and the track
vanishes in a rolling area
of dense sub-alpine scrub with a few open marshy patches with wallow holes.
The track can be relocated with difficulty in a small gut
that leads up the spur from the flat area to a turnoff to an old tops
track. The original trackline sidles from here across the bush faces
towards Frisco Hut and this last bit is followable with a bit of care. If the river is low
and you are able to stay on the trail, the journey from Serpentine to Frisco takes
5-6 hours. It would be sensible however, to allow extra time for track
relocation
activities.
Frisco can be accessed downriver from Poet Hut in the
Mungo River or
Bluff Hut in the Hokitika. There is
an ancient and very overgrown track up the
ridge on
the TR of Darby Creek. There is no recent information
on this section, which was already overgrowing in the mid-80's. The track leaves
the ridge in the montane zone and sidles
across the faces downriver to Frisco. The first section of this sidle has slipped
away and grown over with thick scrub. The remainder to the Hut can be followed with
difficulty, if you are lucky enough to relocate it. On the postive, the track bewteen Poet
and Bluff was recut in 2009 so Frisco should in theory be easier
to access from this end than it has been for some years. Allow 5+ hours from
Bluff or Poet
to Frisco.
An alternative to tackling the ridge track is
to boulderhop down the Hokitika past Darby Creek to Detour Creek
and follow the Detour up to where it crosses the old Frisco trackline
near the Hut.
The Detour drops over a waterfall into the Hokitika, so you need to
climb the bush face upriver from it and drop into the Creek above the fall.
From here it is steep but relatively open and scoured out in its head.
This is a cairned and some markers on
the TR where the old trackline crosses the Creek, around where it begins
to peter out. Frisco is about 10 minutes downriver from here.
The most practical and fun route into Frisco currently is
via the Diedrich Range tops, either from
Gerhardt Spur Biv, Top Toaroha
Hut, Toaroha Saddle Biv,
or Mullins Basin Hut.
From
Toaroha Biv follow the leading ridge up towards Mt. Ross, sidling West off it
just after spot height 1524m. Follow the 1500m contour line
West to a spur on the TL of the Darby Creek basin. Drop down an open rock gut
(around E1447605/ N5234895)
into the basin and
climb from here up onto spot height
1510m on its TR. Drop down the SW spur of this peak to a tussock
bench with tarns just on the scrubline (E1446195/ N5234400).
Follow the cruise tape from here through scattered alpine in a SW direction
to the bottom end of the bench. The toilet and part of the roof
of the Hut are visible from here. The cruise tape leads down
a small steep gut that opens out further down, eventually intersecting
the old Frisco trackline. Some trimming work
has been done in odd places on the route down and there are markers where
the track crosses. It is 5-10 minutes from here to
the Hut. Make sure you don't overshoot the track and end up down in the
Hokitika.
Access from Mullins Basin Hut is via the top
basin of Mullins Creek and Mt. Ross.
Follow the Creek up from
Mullins Hut for taking
the TR branch where it forks. 100m or so further up, just before
the gorge, a small stream comes in on the TR
marked with a rock cairn and cruise tape. Follow the stream up
taking the TL fork where it branches and continue up it to where it emerges
in the tussock around
E1447205/ N5237440 (the entrance is marked with cruise tape and a permolat).
Head up through scattered scrub and tussock from here
up onto the northern slopes of Mt. Ross.
From the summit of Ross drop into Darby Creek using the same route that you would
if coming from Toaroaha Biv.
It is possble to cross directly into the Darby Creek basin via the obvious
Saddle at the head of the upper Mullins basin. Care needs to be taken on the Darby Creek
side however, which is steep and broken with vertical sections that are not visible from above.
Access from Gerhardt Spur Biv Spur to Frisco is via the
the Diedrich Range. A traverse of
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. A traverse of the middle and high peaks of O'Connor can be avoided by sidling
from the low peak
into a high
basin on the Mullins side, then along a conspicuous bench around 1600m and back onto the
Range at the low point between
Mt. O'Connor and spot height 1718m. Follow the crest of the Range from here to spot
height 1510m above Frisco Hut. The route down to Frisco
from here is the same as Top Toaroha Biv route.
There is an open area next to the Hut that may still allow
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. There is a small
creek by the Hut
for water. The Frisco toilet has one of the best
views in the region.
Condition
Frisco is in pretty good condition considering two decades of zero
maintenenance post NZFS.
The exterior was repainted and resealed by DOC in 2004. 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 in
at the bottom of the window at the southern end.
Routes
See Access!
Repairs
The two piles and bearer will need replacing in the medium term. Some
sealing work around the end window is required.
Provisions on Site
The DOC maintenance crew used the Hut's 4 billies
to mix paint in in 2004.
I left them outside in 2007 in the hope that the elements
will loosen up the dried paint. There is one broom, 10 perspex and 1
glass louvre panes, a large box of assorted nails (flat and
jolt head), 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.