(Host) On Saturday, for the first time in about 30 years, the Bennington Battle Monument will open its 438 iron steps for a charity stair climbing race. The stairway has been closed since the 1970s.
The race benefits the American Lung Association of New England. It’s expected to draw some of the world’s top names in the up-and-coming sport of stair climbing. One of those names is a Bennington native.
VPR’s Susan Keese reports.
(Keese) Tim VanOrden is pursuing his favorite sport in one of his favorite places. The Bennington Monument. The 306-foot obelisk is the tallest man-made structure in Vermont.
VanOrden, who is 41, can make it to the observation area almost as fast as the elevator, which takes around a minute. He’s raced up at least 20 major buildings:
(VanOrden) "The Empire State Building in New York, the Sears tower in Chicago. That has 2,009 steps. There’s events like these around the country, and I’m really excited to have one in Vermont now, especially inside of the coolest building in the United States, in my opinion."
(Keese) VanOrden, who spent ten years in L.A. before moving back to Bennington, visited the monument as a student at Molly Stark Elementary.
He loves the massive limestone block innards and the way the iron steps, modeled on a design by Michelangelo, rise up through the dimly lit tower.
(Van Orden) "I mean they’re magical. People were commenting on the video that I put up on You-Tube, they’re like Wow! That looks like a castle, or it looks like we’re going to be racing through tomb raider or Indiana Jones. I mean these stairs were built in the 1890s."
(Keese) Of course you don’t have to race to take part in the charity event. Mary Lou Chicote, the monument administrator, says walkers may notice fossils in the rocks, and vintage graffiti.
(Chicote) "Here’s one from 1929… somebody from Michigan."
(Keese) Hanging from chains at the bottom of the stairwell is a huge three legged kettle. It was taken from British General John Burgoyne’s camp after he was routed in the Battle of Bennington in 1777. The battle happened nine miles outside of Bennington in New York. The Monument marks the location of a storehouse the British plotted unsuccessfully to raid for ammunition and supplies.
(Chicote) "They figured it was going to be easy, they were just going to come down to Bennington, get the stores, go on to Saratoga, and the revolution would be over."
(Keese) But things turned out differently, thanks to General John Stark and the Green Mountain Boys. VanOrden hopes this event brings in 10,000 dollars for the programs of the American Lung Association in Vermont: asthma research, education for people living with lung disease and a camp for kids with asthma. Climbers, whether they race or walk, will be rewarded with some healthy exercise and a view worth climbing for.
(VanOrden) "You get to see Old Bennington, the old first church, and if you look over there in the distance there’s Mount Greylock."
For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.