2. NZ
  3. South Island
  4. Canterbury Westland Alps
  5. Rangitata River
  6. Clyde River
  7. Frances River

Frances River

(0 routes)

The head of the Frances River gives access to peaks on the Main Divide and to Perth Col, and from
there to the Gardens of Eden and Allah

Type: 
Valley
Access: 

The head of the Frances River gives access to peaks on the Main Divide and to Perth Col, and from
there to the Gardens of Eden and Allah. The valley has long been used to reach the Gardens and for
crossings to the West Coast. In the 1880s John Acland named the good camping area at the entrance
to the valley Bay Of Plenty. In the 1930s Lloyd Wilson named Windy Corner, on the true right near
the crossing point to McCoy Hut, and he also named The Sewer, found about 1 km upriver where the
river used to cut into bluffs necessitating a swim or steep scramble.
Travel along the Frances River is easiest on the true right. A vague track from McCoy Hut cuts
north-west to join the river upstream of a short section where the river flows over bedrock. Follow
the river here for a couple of hundred metres to a gravel flat. Cross here if possible and continue to
towards Tauroa Creek, taking a couple of short minor scrub sidles behind boulders about 600 metres
past Tauroa Creek. Beyond Agnes Stream stay close to the river to pass a moraine boulder field, and
continue to silt flats and the lake at the foot of the Colin Campbell Glacier. Travel along gravel from
here to the Frances Glacier. Tent sites exist a few hundred metres downstream of Tauroa Creek, in the
vicinity of Agnes Stream and just below the confluence with the Colin Campbell Glacier.

New Zealand map

Map, Topo

Lat/Lon: 
-43.356570420000, 170.753969700000
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Attribution: 
Yvonne Cook and Geoff Spearpoint, in association with the Canterbury Mountaineering Club

Places

Type Title Link to edit content
Mountain Tauroa Pk (2 routes)
Mountain Trireme Pk (5 routes)
Pass Disappointment Saddle (0 routes)
Mountain Schrund Pk (1 route)
Mountain Quoin Pk (1 route)
Pass Perth Col (0 routes)
Mountain Baker Pk (2 routes)
Pass Rangitata Col (0 routes)
Pass Lambert Col (0 routes)
Pass Malcolm Col (0 routes)
Pass Fan Col (0 routes)

This place appears in

UUID: 
085b0f79-6903-4934-8349-deb60638ffd5