May 15, 2008 5:06 pm US/Eastern
Class Of 2011 Takes Part In Herndon Monument Climb
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) ―
For first year students at the Naval Academy, there's nothing better than climbing a monument covered with lard. It's the traditional Herndon climb.
As Jessica Kartalija reports, it signifies the end to a very grueling year.
First year Naval Academy students known as plebes must complete one more task before they are officially plebes no more.
Their mission is to climb the Herndon Monument, a 21-foot high granite obelisk covered in grease.
"It's pretty miserable, everything is sweaty and covered in oil from the lard," said a midshipman.
A first year's hat, called a dixie cap, is taped to the very top. Plebes must climb to the very top and remove it.
This year is especially meaningful because the hat on the top belonged to Kristin Dickman, the plebe who just passed away last week.
More than 1,000 plebes give a hand, pulling and pushing each other to the top before a crowd of thousands.
It took two hours, 35 minutes and 59 seconds for the midshipmen to remove the cap and replace it with an upperclassman's hat.
Gregory Reichel, of Hershey, Pa., was the first to reach the top.
"It's tough being there, being on the bottom of the stack getting crushed down there. We have to stick together and it pays off," he said.
The academy had considered some changes to the tradition due to safety concerns, but the only adjustment was that 30 midshipmen were chosen to act as monitors. It's believed the tradition started in 1907.
The class of 2001 wasn't able to beat last year's class, who climbed the monument in one hour and 32 minutes.
The longest time to climb the monument to date is 4 hours, 5 minutes, 17 seconds set in 1995. The shortest was 1 minute, 30 seconds in 1969.
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