He has crossed the ice of Antarctica and sands of the Sahara in kite sleds and buggies powered by wind, but Geoff Wilson thought the Simpson would be death of him.
Australia’s brutal Simpson Desert with its inescapable dunes and cantankerous winds nearly beat solo adventurer Dr Geoff Wilson. He has crossed the ice of Antarctica and sands of the Sahara in kite sleds and buggies powered by wind, but Wilson thought the Simpson would be death of him.
It took Wilson seven kites and 12 days to traverse 570 kilometres thick with thorns and riddled with inland taipans – the world’s most venomous snake – on the track running from Queensland’s outback town of Birdsville to near Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory. After seeing the impact of climate change in Antarctica and Greenland, Wilson would like to promote wind power adventures as a way of exploring with reduced or zero emissions. This attempt, though, required a support team that drove ahead to clear 4WD traffic.that his solo wind adventure across Antarctica seemed “calm and consistent, easy” compared to the Simpson. There “beautiful winds would provide 48 hours of continual wind pressure at five knots and open space.
A dead inland sea, the Simpson dunes run parallel for up to 600 kilometres, say Australian scientists. There is no way to cross using valleys like Wilson did in the Sahara Desert. “This is up and over,” he said.
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