Pilastro Lomasti (Machaby, Arnad) · Aosta Valley · Italy
Easy to bailBolting confidence: high
The easiest line on the Pilastro Lomasti and still a serious step up from the neighbouring Paretone: six pitches of steep, technical slab on pockets and small edges, never below 6a. The fourth pitch follows a fine diagonal crack. The rock is exceptional and the grades are firm.
The route
The Pilastro Lomasti is the smooth 200 m pillar of gneiss on the hillside east of the Paretone di Arnad. La Rossa e il Vampirla starts on its left side and is the route to do first here: every other line on the pillar except Via del 94 is clearly harder. It gives six pitches of footwork-dependent slab and wall climbing between 6a and 6b, on rock with pockets that feel almost like limestone. Camptocamp warns that the grades are stiffer than on the Paretone. You abseil the route.
The climbing
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 6a | 50 m | A slab on small edges with three close bolts, then a sloping ledge and a delicate move left. Easier ground leads left and back right towards a dirty corner; stay on the bolts outside it, with a long reach to a hidden hold, then follow the edge and cross left onto easier slabs. A long pitch. There is a belay by a tree and another a few metres higher; a 2026 party found the first pitch a little wet. |
| P2 | 6a+ | 30 m | A flake above the belay, past an intermediate belay, then compact slab diagonally right to the low point of a short wall. The route turns a small roof on the right and then follows a flake leftwards and up; the bolts are further apart on the flake. Three belays are visible at the top: use the right-hand one. |
| P3 | 6b | 30 m | Compact slab to a big pocket, where the bolts look far apart from below. A technical wall leads left and then back right to a vertical, slightly overhanging step on good pockets that are hard to see from below. Leave it on the left. |
| P4 | 6b | 20 m | The obvious crack slanting up right. It pushes you off balance but is well bolted and can be partly aided. A flake leads left, then a short delicate wall to a comfortable ledge. |
| P5 | 6a | 40 m | Compact slab with a few pockets to a steeper wall, best taken on the left. Then go diagonally left across an edge and up a ramp to a belay at the edge of a large terrace. |
| P6 | 6a | 20 m | An athletic bulge on big holds straight above the belay, then an easy-angled slab to the top of the pillar. |
Getting there
From the A5 motorway (exit Verrès or Pont-Saint-Martin) follow the main road to Arnad and take the side road signed for Machaby and the agriturismo Lo Dzerby. After about 2 km the tarmac ends at a car park below the Machaby sanctuary. You can also walk up from the parking places at the foot of the Paretone on the main road, which takes longer.
About 45 min from the Machaby car park (camptocamp's Italian page and a 2026 party say an hour). Cross the bridge over the stream and walk up the cobbled military road past the sanctuary to the hamlet and agriturismo of Machaby. Continue on the dirt road, which passes a building and bends left, and follow it through some hairpins for about 30 min from the car. At a bend, a yellow sign marked 'Lomasti' points right onto a narrow, almost level path that reaches the foot of the pillar in 15 min. The route starts up and left as you arrive, from a ledge with trees: the name is painted in large letters and there is a metal plaque. All routes on the pillar are named on plaques.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Point from camptocamp waypoint 39749
Contains the route point. 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: 45.62916, 7.74492 (crag)
Getting down
Abseil the route. Camptocamp gives four abseils with two 50 m ropes. Scuola Guido della Torre describes five: two long ones skipping the intermediate belays, then two short ones, the second of which should finish at the better-placed anchor to the right (facing in) of the tree at the top of pitch 1, and a last long abseil to within a few metres of the start. A 2026 party took 45 min. Gulliver.it notes you can also abseil the neighbouring routes Vertigine or Via del 94.
Retreat
Easy to bail
Abseiling the route is the normal descent and the belays are equipped for it with chains, so you can retreat from any stance. You need two ropes for the long first pitch.
Safety
Sun and weather
South-west facing, between about 650 and 850 m. The pillar gets the sun mainly in the afternoon, so there is no point starting early: about 12:00 to 12:30 in autumn. It is climbable for much of the year if you choose the time of day to suit the temperature, with spring and autumn best. A September 2022 party climbed in fleeces in a breeze. Allow 3 to 5 hours on 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.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar (usual season) | Apr (usual season) | May (usual season) | Jun (usual season) | Jul | Aug | Sep (usual season) | Oct (usual season) | Nov (usual season) | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | −2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 10 | 3 | −1 |
| Mean daily low °C | −8 | −8 | −5 | −1 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 2 | −4 | −8 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 12 |
● marks the usual climbing season. Averages for 1991-2020 at about 1489 m. Area climate from Open-Meteo reanalysis. Temperatures are adjusted to the height of the crag; rain comes from a grid cell of about 10 to 25 km, and summer highs on sea cliffs can read a few degrees low. The wall and valley can differ. Data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
What to carry
15 quickdraws (gulliver.it says 13 are needed on the first pitch) and two 50 m ropes for the abseils. No trad gear is required; the Scuola mentions that one or two small to medium cams could be placed on pitch 2 but are not needed. 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 La Rossa e il Vampirla.
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 6b · about 6 pitches
France · Gorges de la Jonte
One of the longest routes in the gorge and the line that names its sub-sector: six varied pitches with a steep grey wall of holds at 6a and a slabbier 6b where the holds thin out at the top. Grades are stiff and you climb between the bolts.
6b6 pitches130 m
Read the cautions
Greece · Kalymnos & Telendos
Technical and sustained, with five varied climbing pitches of 6a+ to 6b: a pocketed slab, a surprising chimney hidden behind a pillar, a thin vertical pillar and a long steepening wall to a bulge. Quiet compared with the single pitches below, and in shade until about 12:30.
6b6 pitches160 m
Spain · El Chorro
A good continuation above Nitti. Highlights are a short, thin 6b slab on P4 and a pumpy steep start to the final 6a+ pitch.
6b6 pitches138 m
Read the cautions
France · Dentelles de Montmirail
The best long outing on the Clapis south face: six pitches that start up easy slabs beside Vistemboir and then slant left across the orange ledges of the upper wall, with a horizontal crack traverse, a thin traverse on rough 'pebbledash' rock and a short, fierce 6b to finish. Technical climbing on very sculpted rock with plenty of atmosphere for a 150 m wall.
6b6 pitches150 m
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.