Another shot at the top
Naval Academy Class of 2023’s Herndon Climb marks return to normalcy
As the clock ticked past three hours, Naval Academy Midshipman 2nd Class Jim Crossfield stood on the shoulders of his fellow midshipmen pushing a cover on the top of the Herndon monument. He would push it up, and the hat would come back down. At one point, it fell off, causing the midshipman to ask for another. But at 3 hours and 39 seconds, Crossfield, 21, pushed the cover on top of Herndon, where it stuck. The Herndon Climb was officially over.
Typically, when a class of midshipmen replace the Dixie cup placed on Herndon with a cover, it marks the end of plebe year at the academy. But for Crossfield and the rest of his class, their climb was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. They were able to take their turn at Herndon Sunday where plebes were spectators for the first time due to the unusual circumstances.
The midshipmen knocked the Dixie cup off around two and a half hours into the climb. Three hours is not the longest time to tackle Herndon — that honor belongs to the class of 1998, which struggled to remove the cap, which was taped and glued and took four hours, five minutes and 17 seconds. It is also far from the fastest record, which belongs the class of 1972, which finished in 1 minute 30 seconds, which goes to the class of 1972, according to the academy. Grease was not applied that year.
But the class of 2023 did beat the time of three hours and 41 minutes set by the class of 2024. Commandant Col. James P. McDonough predicted the second-class midshipmen would take under an hour, while Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck challenged them to beat 20 minutes, which is the fastest time a class, the class of 1975, climbed Herndon with grease applied.
Midshipman Annika Brady wasn’t initially excited about having to do Herndon, but she got bored and decided to jump in.
Brady was part of the base. It’s “super hot and sweaty, but way more fun than I was expecting,” she said when she was on her way back into the group making up the base. Climbing isn’t her thing.
A female midshipman has yet to be the one to cap Herndon, and Brady said she did not think her class would be the one to break that record.
One female midshipman came close about an hour and a half in. While she cleared off some of the vegetable shortening used to grease the monument, she was not able to knock the Dixie cup off.
Midshipman 2nd Class Taiyo Tatara was also a base, but was looking to go climb. He’s lighter so it would have made sense for him to try and get up there, he said.
The midshipman did end up going back into the mess of limbs and became part of the middle layers, which midshipmen used to try and get to the top.
Being in the base could be dangerous, Tatara said. Midshipmen are coming down, and at one point, he described himself as being in a fetal position during one of the bigger tumbles to protect himself.
As a mid at the base, the role includes pushing people up but also catching them when they fall, said Midshipman 2nd Class James Joyce. He said it was like being a knight trying to catch a falling princess.
There were people along the edges looking out for injuries. When there was a tumble and mids came down, they would find the midshipmen and make sure they were OK.
There were also other medical professionals and emergency management services nearby in case of a more serious injury, said Midshipman 1st Class Hunter Seibert, the phase commander for Herndon.
The firsties, which are seniors, were responsible for greasing Herndon. Typically, the thirdclass midshipmen do it. The class arrived at 9 a.m. and were out until 10:45 a.m. applying the vegetable shortening to the monument, even shaping it to say 23, Seibert said.
Vegetable shortening was used so that it did not cause people to not participate due to religious or dietary restrictions, he said.
His class climbed it faster, he said, but they were plebes at the time. His strategy is to build a base of 300 people then start sending taller mids up the sides to make columns.
It is hard to communicate, Tatara said. One midshipman jumped on another’s shoulders and made his way toward the monument and tried to get the midshipman organized. But it still took another two hours before the climb was complete.
Crossfield was in the thick of the climb for most of the three hours. He had gotten up and fallen multiple times before taking a break. Then he decided to take another go at it. He is lankier, which comes in handy when trying to get to the top.
He’s a member of the 9th company now due to reorganization at the academy. But during the climb he had his former and new company mates supporting him as he got closer to the top.
And because it took three hours, when Buck congratulated him he took the opportunity to ask for more liberty for the class of 2023.
For Buck, the class of 2023 finishing Herndon does not signal the end of plebe year, as he ended that year for them by climbing Herndon himself and putting a cover on it. He used a ladder.
But it does signify the return to normalcy at the academy.