Navy plebes took part in the annual Herndon Monument Climb on Monday, and became a big, sweaty, tangled mess of man by the time the climb was finished in 1 hour and 38 minutes.

The climb is a rite of passage for freshman at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD — their objective is to scale the 21-foot tall Herndon Monument as a team and place a Navy midshipman's hat atop its peak. There's just one catch: the obelisk is covered in 50 pounds of vegetable shortening.

While it's not required for plebes to be nearly naked for the climb, they usually take their shirts off to help wipe the slippery shortening off the monument for a better grip. It's tradition for plebes to remove their shoes before starting to have them donated to charities through the Midshipman Action Group.

Check out more photos of this year's climb below, as well as a few titillating videos: