CLIMBERS VOLUNTEER FOR UPHILL BATTLE AGAINST DRUGS

Nearly a dozen well-known Santa Barbarans packed Gore-tex jackets and long
underwear Monday as they embarked on a remarkable journey to climb an
unnamed peak in the Canadian Arctic.

The real goal: To fight drug abuse in the county.

Sparked by Santa Barbara jewelry store owner Bob Bryant, whose son Danny
died of a drug overdose five years ago, the diverse group of public
figures, educators, physicians and business owners will make the ascent to
raise funds for an adolescent substance abuse center in Santa Barbara.

Leaving Santa Barbara Municipal Airport Monday evening on the first leg of
a trip that will take them to Bylot Island north of the Arctic Circle were
Bryant, Patty Wiessner who joined Bryant in scaling Africa's Mount
Kilimanjaro last New Year's Day; KEYT-TV news anchor Debby Davison; Jeff
Dozier, dean of UCSB's Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and
Management; doctors Richard Kahmann and Michael Pesce; Don Lafler, chief
financial officer for Santa Barbara Bank & Trust; Santa Barbara City
College president Peter MacDougall; philanthropist Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree;
District Attorney Tom Sneddon and Sheriff Jim Thomas.

The group will fly from Ottawa, Canada, to Iqaluit at the south end of
Baffin Island. From there they fly to the small community of Pond Inlet,
where they will cross to Bylot Island at the north tip of Baffin Island.
The trek, in which the climbers will carry 60-pound packs and wear special
glacier sunglasses, is expected to take six days.

The peak, about 7,000 feet high, has never been climbed, said Maria Long,
director of media and special events for the Santa Barbara Council on
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse which is spearheading the expedition, called
"Summit for Danny and All Our Kids."

"They have to wear crampons on their boots and spend two days walking in on
a glacier," she said.

A base camp to be managed by Ridley-Tree will be set up at the foot of the
mountain, which is about the height of 6,500-foot San Rafael Mountain, the
highest peak in Santa Barbara County, and is not likely to be snow-covered.

The climb, called a first ascent, is expected to take one day, with an
extra day planned in case of inclement weather.

The goal is to raise $1 million through contributions. Cost of building a
treatment center and establishing a program is $5 million.

The expedition is being led by noted climber Dan Ortolani who led a New
Year's Mount Kilimanjaro climb and who has previously led expeditions to
Bylot Island, about 600 miles from the North Pole. The group will have
topographic maps and aerial photographs, though they will be blazing a
trail. They will benefit from 22 hours of sunlight. The temperature is
expected to range from 15 to 55 degrees.

There are only a few places in the world with unnamed mountains. "This is
one of them," said Long.

A Web site will be updated daily with photographs and observations from the
climbers, and weather reports. The address is: www.summitfordanny.org.

The group plans to return to Santa Barbara Aug. 31.