Paretone di Arnad / Corma di Machaby (Arnad) · Aosta Valley · Italy
Bail with caveatsBolting confidence: medium
One of the most approachable lines on the Paretone and one of its best: ten pitches of sculpted gneiss slab, sustained at about 5c, with two steeper passages. The third pitch has one 6a move out of a slot and the sixth climbs two small overhangs at 6a+. Both are closely bolted and go at about 5c with a pull on a quickdraw.
The route
Tike Saab takes the lowest point of the big south face of the Corma di Machaby, just left of Bucce d'Arancia, and climbs it in ten pitches to the top. Most of it is slab climbing on small edges at 5b to 5c, on rough, water-sculpted gneiss. The two harder pitches are short steep steps: a slot or shallow corner on pitch 3 and a pair of overhangs on pitch 6. It shares a wooded ledge and belay with Bucce d'Arancia after pitch 4, and the two lines run side by side higher up, so check which bolts you are following. The name is a greeting used by Pakistani porters.
The climbing
| Pitch | Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | 5b+ | Straight up the slab from the plaque, looking for the easiest line on small edges. Easy to start, with a few moves and longer gaps between bolts higher up. Camptocamp gives nearly 50 m; gulliver.it gives 30 m. |
| P2 | 5c | Straight up from the belay on a black, sculpted slab, keeping slightly right, to a belay below a slightly overhanging corner. Do not drift right into the crack of Bucce d'Arancia or left onto a harder slab pitch of Spit Trip. A faded painted name on the rock here is misleading: follow the central line of bolts. |
| P3 | 6a | Easy at first, then move right to a vertical wall cut by a slot that forms a kind of corner. One athletic move gets you established on the far side, then the slab on the right leads to the belay. Goes at 5c+ with a point of aid. |
| P4 | 5a+ | Short and easy: up a small arete to its end, then about ten metres of path to the belay on the ledge. This belay is shared with Bucce d'Arancia. |
| P5 | 5c | A plaque shows the way. Keep left of the corner on a technical slab that steepens but has good holds. One bolt sits right under a tree and can be hard to reach when the vegetation is thick; in that case use the first metres of Bucce d'Arancia, which starts from the same belay. |
| P6 | 6a+ | The key pitch and the best one. Steep from the belay, then a slightly overhanging wall that needs a few athletic moves (there is a good hold out left). Above, go right to a flared, water-polished corner and a second small roof, then easy ground to the belay. The bolts are close here and it goes at 5c with aid. |
| P7 | 5c | Slightly rightwards up the slab to a comfortable belay. |
| P8 | 5c+ | The small slab above the belay, then a short vertical wall climbed on small footholds. |
| P9 | 5a | Flakes on the left, then more holds and easier ground to a very comfortable ledge. The bolts out right belong to Bucce d'Arancia. |
| P10 | 3 | Easy rock steps and a short, well-featured wall to the last belay. Pitches 9 and 10 can be linked with a 60 m rope. |
Getting there
Arnad is in the lower Aosta Valley. Leave the Torino to Aosta motorway at Pont-Saint-Martin (or Verrès if you come from the north) and follow the main road. The face is obvious above the flat ground about 1 km east of Arnad, just after the fort of Bard if you come from the south. There are small parking places at the foot of the face; a July 2025 party used the half-dozen spaces just past the Osteria l'Arcade on the SS26. A second access is from the car park below the Machaby sanctuary on the north side of the hill, reached by the side road signed 'Machaby'.
From below, about 30 min. From the small parking follow the path marked with red paint, signed 'Machaby' at the start. It is steep, with a few fixed ropes. About five minutes in, the path forks right; a 2025 party missed this and ended up on poor rock until they rejoined the fixed ropes. The path comes to the foot of the wall, where the routes are named on small plaques. Tike Saab starts a few metres left of where you arrive, at the lowest point of the face, below a fine slab. Note that there are some short single-pitch routes at the base. From the Machaby side (about 30 min): cross the bridge, walk up the cobbled track past the church to the agriturismo, follow the dirt road, and where it bends left beyond a ruined building take the path straight on. Keep right at junctions and descend the steep path beside the wall to its foot.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Parking
Arnad (camptocamp access point 189739)
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, about 45 min to the lower parking. From the last belay join a path on the right that leads to the top of the Corma, then follow the good path down the far side to the half-abandoned hamlet of Machaby. Pass the Machaby fort by a stone staircase and follow the signs for 'Parcheggio' to the right (yellow arrows and red dots). This path drops steeply beside the wall and is equipped with ropes and ladders. A gentler alternative is the old mule track on the north side, past the sanctuary to the upper car park, followed by a long walk along the road; a March 2026 party preferred it and lost little time. If you approached from the Machaby side, the agriturismo is only a few minutes from the top.
Retreat
Bail with caveats
You can abseil off. Camptocamp says the route is also equipped for abseiling and the belays are not far off line, and Scuola Guido della Torre says every belay has a ring. The catch is rope length: the route is normally climbed on a single rope and the first pitch is close to 50 m, so a single rope will not get you back to the ground from the first belay.
Partly inferred from the route facts
Safety
Sun and weather
South facing at low altitude, between about 400 and 800 m. Scuola Guido della Torre calls it climbable all year; in winter the face gets the sun from mid-morning. It is hot in summer: a July 2025 party chose a day with light cloud and a breeze. After heavy rain the first pitch can be wet and seepage lines appear higher up (April 2025). Allow 3 to 4 hours for the climb. The valley motorway and main road run directly below, so expect traffic noise.
Sun on the wall · S-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 (usual season) | 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
12 quickdraws. A single 60 m rope is enough because you walk off; Hervé Thivierge's topo lists a 50 m rope, but camptocamp gives the first pitch as nearly 50 m, so 60 m is the safer choice. Cams and nuts are not needed. Helmet, and good shoes for the descent path.
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 Tike Saab.
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 6a+ · about 10 pitches
France · Cerces
The most popular route on the Tour Termier, a 3070 m limestone tower near the Col du Galibier. Sustained and varied at 5c to 6a+ on rough, sculpted rock, with several traverses that add length and a much-photographed 6a+ finish. It is the easier neighbour of Feu Sacré but still a mountain route: cold, often windy, and you climb between the bolts.
6a+10 pitches345 m
Read the cautions
Spain · Vega Baja (Orihuela & Callosa)
The classic of Redován: ten pitches and 300 m of steady grade 5 with three steeper pitches on red rock. The eighth pitch, a traverse right into an overhanging corner above the orange cliffs, is the one people remember. Closed from January to June for nesting eagles.
6a+10 pitches300 m
Austria · Grazer Bergland
A modern plaisir line on the south-east spur of the Röthelstein, finished in 2018 by linking three old, forgotten pitches with six newly cleaned ones. The fifth and sixth pitches are rated among the best on the Röthelstein. UIAA 6+ at the hardest, with only 5 obligatory.
6a+10 pitches315 m
Germany · Berchtesgaden & Bad Reichenhall
A long-day alpine-flavoured plaisir route on the Untersberg's summit wall. Pitches range from UIAA 5+ to 6+ (≈5b–6b), with 5+ obligatory.
6a+10 pitches250 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.