Official opening of the climbing gym Bside in Ascoli Piceno
Photo Pierluigi Giorgi & archivio Bside
The realization of a dream, of any kind, is always very important, because it represents the object of the desires, the idealized icon of the imagination that is carried out and takes shape. Further, if the initiative is realized with sport goals and is successful among the people who practise it, the satisfaction is even bigger. Mauro Mongiovì, climber from Turin, who has moved to Ascoli, wonderful medieval town in the Marche, has successfully achieved his aim: to build a beautiful climbing gym and let the local people, beside the Bouldering World Champion Mauro Calibani, appreciate it.
A nice story, in short, celebrated with due honors with an original party, where fun and good music have allowed to the best Italian specialists to climb with wig and cape.
Mauro Mongiovì and Marzio Nardi tell us the original experience, illustrated by images that take literally your breath away.
Oscar Durbiano

New Gold Dream
On Saturday, November 15, we have unveiled the climbing gym BSide in Ascoli Piceno. For the passionates of this sport the logo BSide is no novelty. It is, in fact, the first and more competent bouldering room in Italy.
Born in Turin, thanks to the effort and professionalism of Marzio Nardi and Luca Giammarco, the BSide school has imported the “French methodology” for climbing on artificial boulders, that means students always near the instructor, mattresses to amortize the falls and hundreds of holds to invent always new motoric games. The format has worked best and now in Italy the number of the indoor climbing gyms is growing exponentially, discrediting the myth of climbing as a heroic discipline derived from alpinism. Today sport climbing is a different activity, more comparable with gymnastics than something else, because it allows an almost unlimited variety of postures and psychophysical feelings.
BSide in Ascoli has been built basing on the experience in Turin, thanks to the friendship that binds me with Marzio and Luca (Nardi and Giammarco, managers of the BSide Turin, ndr), respecting all the characteristics of the BSide style in the course of the years. To celebrate it we have thought about a grand opening party: a competition in fancy-dress, movies on maxi screen, moving lights, loud music, roast pork, fried olives, alcoholic drinks and to finish a concert of drums for the pseudo-tribal dances!
Impossible to tell in a few lines about the atmosphere, but just try to imagine Mauro Calibani playing with dimmed lights, Cristian Brenna and Marzio Nardi busy with making sandwiches, Luca Giammarco showing his ability with the skateboard and making acrobatics on the mattresses, in short a big confusion.
As expected Mauro Calibani has won the competition, though with a big effort (may be the beers?). Among the other finalists offering a great show with fancy-dresses, there were Cristian Brenna, Paolo Leoncini, Paolo Santini, Marco Dialuce, Nazario Fares, Maurizio Puato, Luca Giammarco, Marzio Nardi, Marcello Di Blanda. Following the original competition format the finalists, dressed like a fairy, had to reach the top of the second boulder and grab the magic wand.
The crazy game rules have been invented by Stefano Romanucci, who also set a lot of quality boulders, appreciated by the competitors. There would be a lot of other things to tell, but I’d rather use the last lines to thank friends and sponsors. In the end thanks to the most important people, who with little signs and thoughts have allowed me to realize a big dream.
Mauro Mongiovì

TRIP TO BSUD
Report of a BSide weekend in the Ascoli country
Start, destination Bsud. Take a nine-place van and put inside it seven climbers, comfortably crowded among bags and crash pads. Add the whole repertoire of the Italian singers from Bennato to Dalla and De Gregori, loudly sang in the wrong tone. Put it all on the highway from Turin to the sea, until the base of Monte Vettore (Ascoli). If you mix it with roast pork, beer, chalk and boulder you will have the maximum.
5 P.M. Meeting of the BSide team in a secret spot. Due to obvious reasons of traffic, parking problems and unexpected events the start is delayed for an hour, with the great satisfaction of the ones who have been sitting in the most comfortable van for some time now. The undersigned, to apologize, speeds on the passing lane for seven and half pleasant hours. Singing and farting we reach Piazza del popolo in Ascoli, where Mauro Mongiovì is waiting for us.
He is one of the crazy friends of BSide, who, after a series of useless works and many curses in Turin has decided, at the beginning of the new millennium, to move to Ascoli. There he found big doctors of cursing whom he could compare and improve himself with, but above all the hope of a new, not useless and frustrating job. Exactly to celebrate this important turn the BSide committee has started, to honor the new job of Mongio, who, in a few months, has become builder-president-manager of the southern seat of BSide. Calibba, Luca, Mauri, with the help of Stefano Romanucci, Riccardino and the competent advice of “Mr. Wood” Elio, have worked hard to build a little copy of the BSide in Turin, regarding the profiles, quality of the moves and managerial spirit.
In fact on the opening day, they start straight away with a nice contest, with beer, roast pork and the videos gathered for the occasion by Calibani. Usual format with auto certification for the qualifying round, sixty participants and ten finalists, Calibani, Cristian Brenna, Paolo Leoncini and a good percentage of the BSide Committee, among them the undersigned, Marcello Di Blanda, Luca Giammarco and Maurizio Puato, beside some very strong climbers of Ascoli. The final format offered some local color too. After having climbed the first boulder with a wig, the best ones tried to climb the final boulder with a fairy cape, with the hope to grab the magic wand pinned near the top hold. Needless to say Calibba conquered the magic power and started the party with roast pork, beer and wine (advised by the Zone diet). After a little alcohol Brenna and Giammarco started to make acrobatics on the mattresses and Calibba played the drums, causing a big headache to a few people; late in the night Giammarco, (World Champion 2003 in skateboard slalom) showed also his capabilities beside climbing. On Sunday the climbers spent the day trying to skate on the ramp of Villa Pigna, without big success but a lot a bruises, injuries and stressed joints, to enrich further their reminissences of the grand opening.
During the trip back home only the big traffic jam in Bologna was able to wake up the badly shaken up bodies and the climbers started to sing the never missing “I am a vagabond, I have no money…”.
Marzio Nardi