Paretone di Arnad / Corma di Machaby (Arnad) · Aosta Valley · Italy
Bail not documentedBolting confidence: medium
The hard route at the far left of the Paretone: two ordinary pitches, then steep walls on pitches 4 and 5 that are less slabby than the neighbours. Pitch 6 follows the arete at 7a, or 6a+ with a strenuous few metres of aid. Harder than the board at the car park suggests.
The route
Sputnik climbs the left edge of the great gneiss slab of the Corma di Machaby above Arnad, where the wall is steeper than on Bucce d'Arancia and its neighbours. The first three pitches are a warm-up on less attractive rock. Pitches 4 and 5 are the heart of the route: obligatory hard moves over a short wall, then a long sustained vertical wall that one party called magnificent. Pitch 6 takes the arete and is aided by most parties. The upper pitches ease to 6a and 6a+ with terraces between them.
The climbing
| Pitch | Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | 6a+ | Four or five easy metres, then a slab that steepens and is climbed on small pockets. The crux is at about the sixth metre. The pockets hold water after rain. |
| P2 | 5+ | Diagonally left into a well-bolted corner and up all of it to a chain at the edge of a copse. You can continue through the trees without stopping. |
| P3 | 4 | A link of no more than 15 m: from the top of the copse reach a step with a bolt, then traverse right on easy flakes to the belay. Going straight up is hard and unprotected. |
| P4 | 6b+ | Left up a smooth slab with a few steps, then the wall rears up: very hard obligatory moves over a short wall, well protected, then easier to a belay near a birch. |
| P5 | 6b | A short slab, then a long continuous vertical wall that eases slightly, an arc to the left and another vertical wall almost to the belay, well left of a birch. Sustained and the best pitch. |
| P6 | 7a | Traverse left and climb more or less on the arete. Free up to a bolt, then a strenuous section that nearly everyone aids: 6a+ and A0. Free it is 6c+/7a according to camptocamp and 7b according to gulliver.it. |
| P7 | 6a | Two low-angled sections near the arete separated by a smooth short wall, which can be avoided by moving right. |
| P8 | 4 | Over or round the right of the spike above the belay, down to a notch with an old chain, then a short wall and easy slabs. |
| P9 | 6a+ | Move left to the edge of the slab (one bolt on the traverse). A hard start using a deep crack left of the bolt and a difficult mantel onto a ledge, then easier. |
| P10 | 6a | Three short walls separated by easy-angled ground. The second and third are hard; the third can be partly avoided by a dirty gully on the right. |
Getting there
Leave the A5 Torino to Aosta motorway at Pont-Saint-Martin and follow the valley road past Donnas and the Fort of Bard, beyond the turning for the Champorcher valley. With the wall in view, take the first right signed 'Machaby' and drive a few kilometres up the wooded side of the hill to the car park.
30 to 40 min. From the car park cross the bridge and walk up the cobbled track to a church and then an agriturismo. Follow signs for the base of the wall: a gravel track at first, then, where it turns left just after a ruined building, a path straight on that begins to descend. Keep right at junctions, towards the rock. The path drops very steeply with a few scrambling steps (not recommended after rain) to the lowest point of the wall at the start of Bucce d'Arancia. Climb a few metres left (facing in) and follow the path along the base, in and out of the woods, to the far left end. The name is painted at the start.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Parking
Arnad (camptocamp access point)
Point from camptocamp waypoint 39748
Contains the route point and parking. Opens in most mapping apps and GPS watches.
Points are compiled from published sources, with the precision stated above. They were not surveyed on the ground: check them against a current topo.
Coordinates: 45.63498, 7.73580 (crag) · Parking: 45.63457, 7.72929
Getting down
On foot. A path leads over the top of the Corma and back to the agriturismo in a few minutes, and from there to the car park.
Retreat
Bail not documented
Retreat is not documented for this route. The normal descent is a short walk from the top. Gulliver.it mentions that the wall can be descended by abseil but calls it inconvenient, without giving details for Sputnik.
Partly inferred from the route facts
Safety
Sun and weather
South-west facing at about 500 to 750 m; a spring and autumn wall that is also climbed on fine winter days. On 30 November the first pitch came into the sun at about 09:45. Pitch 1 was soaked for its first 10 m after rain in 2019 while the rest was dry. Reports from 2017 give about 4 h for the route.
Sun on the wall · SW-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season
Estimated from the wall's aspect only. Ignores surrounding terrain, gullies and the wall's exact shape. Clock times are local to the wall (Central European time), for the 15th of each month.
Climate figures for Aosta Valley are not available yet
What to carry
13 quickdraws and a single 50 m rope (camptocamp). A sling to stand in or a clip-stick helps on the aid section of pitch 6. Helmet.
Derived from the route data; check it against a current topo
From climbers
Reader reports are not being collected yet. Until they are, check a current topo and the local club or guidebook publisher for recent changes to Sputnik.
Worth knowing
Open questions
Provenance
Same area
Italy · Aosta Valley
This is the most-climbed route on the Paretone. It gives sustained, varied slab and crack climbing on good gneiss, and the hardest moves are a fine crack on P2, a slanting corner and a punchy wall. Queues are common on good days. The Mani Nude guidebook grades it stiffly; camptocamp's Italian page calls it sustained at 5b–5c+ with a single 6a.
6a10 pitches290 m
Read the cautions
Italy · Aosta Valley
Along with Bucce d'Arancia this is the Paretone's other great classic (first ascent 1977, later retro-bolted). It climbs big, juggy, non-athletic slabs on beautiful rock up the centre of the wall to near the summit. Expect a few metres above the last bolt in places.
5c+9 pitches250 m
Read the cautions
Italy · Aosta Valley
A long, easy-angled outing up the full height of the Paretone. A steeper lower half with an exposed pillar on P5 leads to sculpted slabs and broken steps higher up. It's a good first big multipitch.
5c13 pitches400 m
Italy · Aosta Valley
Rated 'great' on camptocamp: a wild setting with a short, easy approach from Lavachey. It climbs edgy granite slabs and a pillar crest, with a three-star exposed slab on P9.
6a+11 pitches350 m
Around 7a · about 10 pitches
France · Cerces
The classic hard route of the Tour Termier: ten steep, technical pitches on superb compact limestone at 3000 m, a short walk from the Col du Galibier road. It is never athletic but sustained at 6a+ to 6b, with a 7a pitch and a 6c move that both go at 6a A0. Cold, wind and thin footwork make it feel bigger than the numbers.
7a10 pitches320 m
France · Bavella
A sampler of everything Bavella granite does: a technical 7a wall, layback and jamming cracks, an off-width, a squeeze slot behind a tree, and three pitches of pure friction slab to finish. Bolted well enough to climb on quickdraws, which is rare here. The wide pitches are awkward and bruising if you are not used to the style.
7a10 pitches300 m
Read the cautions
Spain · Costa Blanca (Peñón de Ifach)
Nine steep pitches up the wildly sculpted right side of the south face, overhanging almost throughout. Two long 7a pitches open the route and a third comes near the top, and even the 6a+ pitches are athletic. The rock is covered in holds and much less polished than the classics to the left.
7a9 pitches310 m
Read the cautions
Spain · Riglos & Agüero (Mallos)
The famous overhanging line up the left side of the Visera, following the white chalk stripe you can see from the village. A polished, technical 7a pitch low down, then five pitches of ever steeper climbing on huge cobbles where the difficulty is staying un-pumped. Bolts are sound but spaced, and above the third belay the only practical way off is the top.
7a8 pitches250 m
Read the cautionsCommitting
Compiled from published sources and last verified October 2026. Bolts, anchors and access change. Climbing is dangerous and you are responsible for your own decisions: check a current topo and read the disclaimer.
