Five area residents are going to great heights to raise money for breast cancer research.

On Jan. 3, Laura Willumsen, Nick Cobler, Todd Lepley and Ted Williams plan to climb Ecuador's Mount Cotopaxi, at 19,348 feet the world's highest active volcano. This June Karen Kern plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

They will climb under the auspices of Climb for Hope, a charity founded by Andrew Buerger, 42, who owns a public relations firm in Baltimore. To participate in the Climb for Hope, every climber must raise $5,000 for breast cancer research and pay his or her own expenses.

Mr. Buerger founded Climb for Hope after his sister, Jody Buerger, 43, was diagnosed with an incurable form of breast cancer.

"There is no technology that will ever eliminate her breast cancer," Mr. Buerger said. "I need to find a cure to help save her life."

Dr. Leisha Emens, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is working on a vaccine for breast cancer that shows great promise, Mr. Buerger said. Proceeds from the Climb for Hope will go to support her work.

Laura Willumsen, 51, marketing director for the Pittsburgh Opera, took part in the inaugural Climb for Hope last January. She raised more than $10,000 last year.

"My sister has had breast cancer twice, and my cousin has had a double mastectomy," she said.

Ted Williams, 42, is a graphic designer for Giant Ideas, an advertising agency. He said he joined Climb for Hope so that his two young daughters never will know what breast cancer is.

"Laura Willumsen was a client of the agency I work for," he said. "I got really involved in this. I couldn't climb last year, but when Laura asked me this year, I jumped at the opportunity."

Nick Cobler, 34, is the creative director in the Pittsburgh office of the Mullen advertising agency. "It was a no-brainer for me," he said. "My mom passed away from breast cancer the day after Christmas in 2004."

"I'm doing it because my girlfriend has had too many of her friends suffer from breast cancer," said Todd Lepley, 42, associate creative director for Mullen.

Karen Kern, 51, a marketing consultant in Squirrel Hill, was the campaign manager for the inaugural Climb for Hope, but will climb for the first time this year.

"I saw the opportunity to combine my lifelong goal [to climb a mountain] with the chance to raise money for breast cancer," she said. "I'm blessed with a healthy body, and if I can use it to help other people, that's what I want to do."

The Pittsburgh climbers mostly train separately, but each Sunday morning they gather to climb the steps of the Cathedral of Learning on the Pitt campus together.

"I've done rock climbing and a lot of backpacking, but nothing of this scope," Mr. Williams said.

There were 21 climbers in the inaugural Climb for Hope. There will be 30 this year. All save Ms. Willumsen, Mr. Cobler, Mr. Lepley and Mr. Williams will climb Mount Kilimanjaro.