Ben Cossey
Recent adventures: Ben's has recently made one of the most significant ascents in Australian climbing for 2008; by climbing the notorious long term project: Gilgamesh. Located on Lower Taipan Wall in the Grampians, Victoria, Gilgamesh has repelled attempts from a slew of strong climbers since the early nineties starting with Australian rock climbing legend Malcolm “HB” Matheson.
Whilst Ben hasn’t given Gilgamesh a grade, it stands out as one of the proudest lines in the country. Nice one!  |
Like his brother, Ben Cossey is making a name for himself in Australia and beyond by completing bouldering problems and freeing ascents in style and speed. Having grown tired of sunshine and vegemite, Ben temporarily escaped to England, from where he gained access to Europe’s most infamous climbing locations and even filmed the climbing movie, Committed. When he realized nothing could beat a life in the Blueys, Ben returned to unleash his well-rounded talent on projects such as Ozymandias Direct on Mount Buffalo and compete in national and international bouldering comps. 2008 for Ben will be about the travel, with trips to Yosemite, Germany and Patagonia in the pipelines. 
We asked Ben how he felt about Gilgamesh (pictured right): “Yeah it was really rad to have done it. To do a new route is always great but to climb a famous old project like that with lots of history is always extra great… to do these sorts of routes that have been around your entire climbing life and follow through with that motivation that you’ve felt to finally climb it and think back to when you were a wee tucker looking at pictures of HB on it and then to be clipping the chains on the first ascent. Very cool and while it’s not the hardest route I’ve done it is very special to have done it for that reason you know?!"
