Simpson desert crossing

Conditions are very changeable Petra - It wasn't particularly hard this year in july , I'd call it average for us travelling west.
In fact the biggest issue was the 200m wide lake out of Birdsville.

But I don't think that information could be reliably used now.

I have always found it harder from west to east - like Big Red is, and this is because of the gentler but far longer run up to the top of the dunes when coming from west, combined with more exposure to warmer sun.

Petra

As the prevailing winds in the desert are from the west the eastern slopes are steeper.

The majority of traffic seems to come from the west and as many travellers have this silly notion not to let the air pressure in their tyres down, the western side of the dunes can be very chopped out and difficult to negotiate

I have done 7 Simpson Treks and all of the tracks in Qld and SA and some cross country stuff in the NT. I have found that approaching a dune from the east the easiest way is to stop at the bottom of the dune and to idle the 4x4 up and over at a steady pace in 1st gear High Range or 2nd/3rd gear Low range

18 psi in the tyres or lower would be the advised pressure for your vehicle's tyres



Cheers

Hard packed and very rough (slow going) this year when we crossed.
Drop tyre pressures around 15 psi and as said above you will idle over regardless of direction IMO. have fun

Cheers

Hi Petra,
We traveled across the Simpson using a variety of tracks from Birdsville to Mt Dare in early May. We followed the trek notes so used French line WAA and QAA. Yes the tops of the dunes were soft often there were no tracks on the dune tops. So a lot of dunes were walked first, particularly where there were multiple tracks. I would say from our experience that the WAA line was more technically difficult. The French line is certainly more difficult than the rig road. I would say this info is out of date though it only takes a storm to make everyones info outdated. There were a few difficult dunes and the splits got down to 12psi on one of them. I would listen to Robin and Williem they usually have sound advice.

Main points
1) Direction of highest difficulty is dependent on track conditions, how much traffic etc. There is certainly not orders of magnitude in difference.
2) Difficulty is very subjective. One persons extemely difficult is anothers moderate. It depends on experience and conditions on the day.
3) Conditions can change rapidly, you need to be flexible don't get fixated on the route. Just make sure people know the planned and alternate routes.
4) If unsure, make sure you have time, fuel and supplies to pick an alternate route if it gets too difficult.

I am assuming you are familiar with desert and remote travel having done a crossing before.

Steve

Simpson should be almost flat by this time of year ;)

14-15psi light (<3t) 4wd and 16-18psi for heavy (4t) 4wd

I last did the Simpson in a very 'soft' year and getting up Big Red wasn't hard from the Birdsville side. I then went back up BR from the other side and while the gradient was less it took a bit more power but the Paj handled it well.

The QAA Line to Poeppel Corner didn't really present too many other challenges but once we hit the French line the challenges mounted. Many of the routes up the dunes on the French Line required you too approach from a right hand aspect and then loop left near the crest. This put a bit of strain on the rear end of the Paj but if any speed was lost you just stopped, backed down and started again. I had to do this with 7 dunes and it was all down to me misjudging how much grunt I'd need to crest.

After our second night the dunes bega to reduce in size and cresting them became much easier. Coming from the west it seemed that the run up had less gradient and was easier to manage so I'd say that west to east is easier. However, with a good vehicle and sensible driving the east to west route isn't too much harder.

Hi Manni & Petra,
We completed a double crossing late April / early May this year, coming in from the Warburton Crossing to Mt. Dare, and back (West to East) across the French Line.
At that time, early in the season, the prevailing winds over summer had been the opposite to the usual, creating a steeper West face and gentler East side of the dunes.
Dunes were very soft at that stage, and some of the tracks we did had virtually no traffic at that time.
But I suspect that should be very different now. As as others have said, conditions can change quickly.
Having said that, you shouldn't have any problems going East to West.
Have a great trip.
Cheers, Mark.

Hi

Ive crossed it 3 times west to east x2 east to west x2 i didnt find it any more different either way i think how hot it is makes a big differents the sand gets very soft in 2004 easter it was 40 odd degs every day the sand was veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy soft.
last year it rained on us on day two and it was easy as and we went via the Rig Road from the "Lone Gum" to "Purnie Bore" you could have drove a Commodore in there.
But i would say listen to the locals and get all the info you can and enjoy it

Glenn...