A homoerotic tradition: US Naval Academy phlebes try and climb slippery Herndon Monument

No matter what, this always ends up looking like foreplay before the start of a giant orgy! It’s the annual tradition of first-year students at the U.S. Naval Academy placing a cap atop the 21-foot-high Herndon Monument.

Not as easy as it sounds. The monument is covered with 200 pounds of lard!

It’s a tradition believed to have begun in 1907 and does not seem to get any easier. This year, after 1 hour, 14 minutes and 38 seconds of these hot young guys slipping and sliding up and down the monument and all over each other, 19-year-old Schyler Widman of Jackson Hole, Wyo. reached the top and put the cap on the monument.

In the video, one phlebe described the whole experience as “a hot, sweaty, nasty mess.”

Lots of terrific pictures of the climb can be found at BOYSINTHESUN