The climb is dangerous, however. There is half as much oxygen at the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro as at sea level. Frank says about two people die every year on the mountain.

“It’s like breathing with one lung through a wet towel,” he says.

Still, McDyer says she doesn’t need special equipment for the climb besides oxygen—just sheer stamina.

“It’s endurance more than anything else—being able to last through the whole thing,” McDyer says.

Once a month, McDyer scales Mt. Monadnock, a 3,500-foot-high peak 50 miles from Boston, and she will use this exercise as one aspect of her preparation.

She will also work out regularly, and go to Colorado to get acclimated to the oxygen-poor atmosphere.

McDyer also says this won’t be last her last climb for charity.

“My boyfriend said there are seven continents, and I should climb a mountain on each every year for seven years,” McDyer says, laughing. “I don’t know if I can think that far in advance, but I’d like to do one thing for charity each year.”