Mike Posner has gotten very used to going on walkabout. The “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” rapper, who spent much of 2019 walking across the continental U.S. and was briefly interrupted by a rattlesnake bite, announced his latest adventure on Monday (March 29). The Detroit native said he plans to climb Mt. Everest in May to raise funds for his hometown’s Detroit Justice Center.
“While my walk across America was about me finding myself, I want my climb to be about others,” Posner said in a statement. “Before my dad died, he was a criminal defense attorney in Detroit for 40 years. I’ve decided to dedicate my climb to the non-profit Detroit Justice Center because they’re doing criminal justice reform work in my city that would make my dad beam with joy.”
The trek up the world’s highest mountain (which rises to 29,000 feet) will come after Posner spent 18 moths doing intensive high altitude training in Colorado, scaling more than 40 peaks, according to a release announcing the effort, for which the MC has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for the Justice Center. Speaking to CBS This Morning on Monday, Posner said he was well aware of the possible danger of his undertaking.
“They brought me to tears more than once, but if you push too hard in mountains you die,” he said of the potential pitfalls of ascending the mountain where winds can top 100 m.p.h., and which has become so overcrowded in recent years that even experienced climbers have perished. “One thing I’ve learned is that a lot of life, a lot of beauty, is on the other side of that feeling of anxiety, or fear, or whatever you want to call it,” Posner told CBS This Morning about any trepidation he has about the adventure.
The plan is to leave for Kathmandu, Nepal, this week and complete the climb within several months. Posner’s latest single, the bouncy “Momma Always Told Me” featuring Stanaj and Yung Bae, was released earlier this year. His 2010 song “Please Don’t Go” got an unexpected bump recently when it became part of the TikTok #PleaseDontGoChallenge.
See Posner’s announcement and watch him talk about his trek below.
SO EXCITED to announce that this May I’ll be attempting to summit the tallest mountain on Earth, Mt. Everest, with @DrJonKedski in order to raise funds for @justcitydetroit …PLEASE DONATE what you can 🙏🏻…or just share the GoFundMe link https://t.co/ElMJY6UJPp
— mikeposner (@MikePosner) March 29, 2021
Just revealed: Singer-songwriter @MikePosner plans to climb Mount Everest, a dangerous trek to a height of more than 29,000 feet.@jamieyuccas spoke with the pop star exclusively about his plans — and what inspired his quest. ⛰ pic.twitter.com/OqguX7yTfY
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 29, 2021
