Easy climb on a lard-free Herndon Monument

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Easy climb on a lard-free Herndon Monument

By Brian Witte - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday May 24, 2010 14:32:25 EDT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — As they have for 70 years, students at the Naval Academy are celebrating the end of their grueling first year by scaling a 21-foot obelisk. But this year, without lard coating the monument, they did it a lot faster.

For years, the Herndon Monument was slathered in lard to make it harder to climb. It often took hours for a group of plebes to hoist a peer on their shoulders to place an officer’s hat atop the obelisk.

On Monday, to make the tradition safer, the obelisk wasn’t greased and plebes scaled it in two minutes and five seconds flat.

The academy’s departing superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, said earlier this month that the school could end the climb entirely. The decision will rest with Fowler’s successor.

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Midshipman 4th Class Keegan Albi, 20, from Eugene, Ore., celebrates atop the monument with classmates after the 2010 Herndon Climb. Albi completed the climb in two minutes, five seconds. Herndon Monument was not greased this year, cutting a significant amount of time off the often hours-long task of climbing the monument.

Chris Maddaloni / Staff Midshipman 4th Class Keegan Albi, 20, from Eugene, Ore., celebrates atop the monument with classmates after the 2010 Herndon Climb. Albi completed the climb in two minutes, five seconds. Herndon Monument was not greased this year, cutting a significant amount of time off the often hours-long task of climbing the monument.

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