Why Mike Posner Is Climbing Mt. Everest for a Cause Important to His Late Dad: 'Journey of a Lifetime'

Mike Posner is reaching new heights. (Literally.)

The 33-year-old musician is gearing up to climb up Mt. Everest to add a "chapter" to the book of his life, and he's also doing it to honor his late father, who worked as a criminal defense attorney. Posner opens up to PEOPLE (the TV Show!) about his decision to climb the tallest mountain in the world and why he's doing it to support the Detroit Justice Center.

Going on a walk across America last year — where he was bitten by a rattlesnake — "obliterated who I thought I was as a human and what I thought I was capable of."

"I realized I'm capable of a lot more," he tells PEOPLE. For a year and a half, Posner has been training alongside Dr. John Kedrowski ahead of attempting to reach the mountain's summit. (So far, he's climbed mountains in Mexico, Ecuador and Pakistan.)

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"I'm comfortable with the risks, especially given the work I've put in," he says. "My goal is to go over there and have fun. This is like a journey of a lifetime."

"The thing about risks is we are going to die anyways. We're all gonna die. My dad is dead. Avicii is dead. Mac Miller's dead. One day I'll be dead. Hopefully not any time soon," he adds. "But before that happens, I want to live. I want to live my life. So I'm comfortable with the risk after doing the research."

In climbing the mountain, he'll also be supporting the Detroit Justice Center and the work they do in the criminal justice realm — something his dad was passionate about. (So far, they've raised $70,000 on GoFundMe for the organization.)

"I was just blown away by the work they're doing," he says. "I'm from Detroit and I want to help make it a better place or empower the people that are making it a better place. But simultaneously, I can honor my dad."

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The singer says the trip will likely take two months. And after? The "Cooler Than Me" singer hopes to spend some time self-reflecting for a several weeks at a monastery in Colorado.

"I just need to stop and do absolutely nothing — without my phone, without any human interaction. And then I kind of figure out what I want to do next," he says. "That's my after-party, dude. No champagne, no strippers."

This new challenge for Posner is just one more in his long list of accomplishments and goals he hopes to achieve.

"I have a lot of life to live. I have a lot of music to make, a lot of dreams still," he says.