Naval Academy Herndon Monument Climb 2023 (Class of 2026)

First-year ‘plebes’ at the US Naval Academy build a human pyramid to complete the annual Herndon Monument Climb, a traditional event capping the freshman year at the academy.

Scaling a heavily-greased 21-foot-tall monument this morning at the Yard, the Class of 2026 completed the climb in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 51 seconds, beating last year’s climb by the Class of 2025 by over an hour. The record for the climb is 1 minute and 30 seconds by the Class of 1972 (the monument was not greased for that climb). The Navy tradition dates back to the mid-20th century.

Marking the end of the first year at the academy, freshman are no longer known as ‘plebes’ after successfully completing the climb, but instead "fourth class midshipmen". The climb is completed after removing a ‘dixie cup’ hat at the top of the monument and replacing it with that of an upperclassman’s.

Midshipman Fourth Class Chris Paris, 20, of 28th Company from Louisville, Kentucky, capped the monument Wednesday morning, followed immediately by cheers and celebration from the Class of 2026 and family & spectators gathered on the campus grounds in Annapolis, Maryland.