While you were busy working or sleeping in or whatever you did today, Mike Posner was busy climbing to the top of the highest mountain in the world. He reached the summit of Mount Everest at roughly 4:35 a.m. local time on Tuesday, which is a whopping 29,031.7 feet tall. No big deal.
The Grammy-nominated electropop artist was joined by his teammates Dawa Chirring Sherpa, Jon Kedrowski, and Dawa Dorje Sherpa for the treacherous hike. The four of them celebrated the climb by watching the sunrise from what’s probably the clearest view in the entire world. “That’s what I call a sunrise,” he tweeted. “We are now back at camp 2 but not out of the woods until we descend to base camp tomorrow am. Please keep us in your prayers.”
Over the last year, Posner spent his days in intensive high altitude training in Colorado to prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime adventure. He ultimately decided to tackle Mount Everest — which sits in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas, between Nepal and China — to raise money for The Detroit Justice Center, a nonprofit law firm working alongside communities to create economic opportunities, transform the justice system, and promote equitable cities. Posner is a Detroit native and his father, Jon, served as a criminal defense attorney in Detroit for 40 years before passing away in 2017, making the charity close to his heart.
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“While my walk across America was about me finding myself, I want my climb to be about others,” said Posner 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 Detroit Justice Center because they’re doing criminal justice reform work in my city that would make my dad beam with joy.”
This may seem out of the blue for Posner, but to be fair he expressed interest in climbing the mountain back in 2019 when he rapped “I might do Everest, you never know” in “Prince Akeem”. Now that he’s officially done it, Posner hopes to raise $250,000 for The Detroit Justice Center. Donations can be made through his GoFundMe.
This morning at 4:35 am, Dawa Chirring Sherpa, Jon Kedrowski, Dawa Dorje Sherpa and Mike Posner summited Mt Everest. That’s what I call a sunrise.
We are now back at camp 2 but not out of the woods until we descend to base camp tomorrow am. Please keep us in your prayers 🙏🏻☺️
— mikeposner (@MikePosner) June 1, 2021
