Well there are a few ways you can go.
First of all i would advise putting your first 10 stats in vitality.
After that you can stat either strength, or dex. I would just pick one and go with it for the whole climb. Dex will help to give more critical hits, and help defend against critical hits from monsters. Strength will improve your overall damage.
For the items, Go with enhanced effect weapons, the higher the better. On your armor and charms you want either strength or dex. Many players like to have Str items when they stat dex, or dex items when they stat str, to even out the stats. On the armor you should look for plate mail whenever possible as it has the highest defense value.