Sy is a small village from the community of Ferrières. It is situated at the river Ourthe. The road leading to this village is a dead-end.
From Sy you can access 2 different climbing sites : the main site named Sy-Vieuxville is located East of the village (upstream of the river Ourthe). The other site named Sy-Vignobles is located West of the village (downstream of the river Ourthe).
Both sites are managed en maintained by the Club Alpin Belge (French speaking Belgian Climbing Federation) that runs the conventions with the owners and the necessary official authorizations/permits.
The site of Sy-Vieuxville includes following cliffs (from West to East) : Banc (height Max 20 m) especially for initiation, Cathédrale (height Max 45 m) with a lot of medium routes, Nanduire (height Max 55 m), Paroi du Fond (height Max 20 m) and Del Venne (height Max 50m). Paroi du Fond and Del Venne are not yet open for climbing. The right part of Nanduire (right of La Grande Cheminée) is also not yet under good condition for climbing.
Even if the Belgian Alpine Club was founded in 1883, the belgian members of the clubs start to climb on the "small" but numerous belgian cliffs in the years 1930 as a training for the climbing in the Alps. Sy-Vieuxville was the main climbing site in the Ourthe valley, particularly visited by the local climbers (from Liège), but also from Brussels (as King Albert and the Count De Grunne). But it is especially after WWII that the climbers opened most routes, already in the years 1960 (André and Monique Capel) then after (Camille Piraprez, Jacky Delderenne, ...). Sy was the main local climbing site for about 70 years, but in 2002, due to an administrative issue with the community of Ferrières, climbing was prohibited for about 15 years.
Only in 2017 could the Belgian Alpin Club sign a new agreement with the community. A lot of cleaning and renovation works was needed to allow the climbing and the accesses to the cliffs in good conditions. A very small group of volunteers could handle the job, but it took almost a year and a half for Banc and Cathedrale and the same for Nanduire. The works are continuing for Paroi du Fond, the right part of Nanduire (above the Ourthe + east side) and eventually Del Venne that is at the moment prohibited for environmental reasons.
The area is access sensitive!
The crags are only accessible for climbers members of CAB (Club Alpin Belge) and their guests (invitation card) or other national climbing federations as KBF, UBS, NKBV, CAF, FFME, DAV, .... The climbers must have their membershipcard and insured for civil liability in case of accident.
The cars must be parked at the main parking place in the village of Sy (rue de Luins) , facing the differents restaurants. Parking in "rue Nalninco" is not allowed to limit nuisance for local residents.
From the parking to the first cliff (Banc) is about 600 m walking (back under the railway then in the sharp curve, the street right then left to the river Ourthe). The other cliffs (Cathédrale, Nanduire and Paroi du Fond are just 150 m and 300 m further following the Ourthe.