We want nothing more than to see Julian Sands striding into the pub on Monday, ... trends now

Actor Julian Sands is due to join his four brothers for their regular weekly pub meeting in their native Yorkshire in two days. But there is little doubt now — even as the family's mood oscillates between hope and fear — that he will be absent.

It is two weeks since Julian, 65, whose starring role in the 1985 film A Room With A View earned him international acclaim, disappeared while climbing in the treacherous, snow-bound San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles. The British actor lives near by with his second wife and their two daughters.

This week, as police in California resumed their search for him from the air, after deadly storms hampered their earlier efforts, the family praised their heroism.

Meanwhile, in Yorkshire, Julian's brother Nick, 66, whose home is close to Gargrave, the picturesque village on the verge of the Dales where three of the Sands brothers were raised, is now coming to terms with the fact that the brother with whom he shared a boyhood bedroom and the closest of fraternal bonds will not make their Monday Club reunion.

Each week, the four UK-based Sands brothers: Nick, Robin, Jeremy and Quentin — who live a short drive from each other in Yorkshire — meet for a drink, and sometimes a meal, near Gargrave.

'And at least three times a year, bless him, Julian makes sure he comes home to see us, just for the one night,' says Nick. 'He gets the train up from London to Skipton, then never wants a lift to Gargrave. Instead, he walks the five miles over our local hill, Sharp Haw, which looks down on our village, then breezes through the front door of my office there.

'We used to play on Sharp Haw in the bracken, exploring the caves as kids. It's a lovely walk from Gargrave or Skipton, with spectacular views — we've been doing it since we were lads — and nothing would please me more now than seeing Julian striding down that hill again to great fanfare.'

The Sands family is living in limbo. The pendulum swing of their emotions — from resignation to optimism — is an endless torture. They do not know what has happened to Julian.

In the past week, Nick has found himself referring to his brother in the past tense. It is his strategy for coping with the fact that his younger sibling — separated from him by a year — could have perished.

'I'm the most positive person there is and, at first, I thought he must have hunkered down in a cave and was just keeping out of the weather; that he'd walk out when it was better. He is a passionate, experienced hiker. He set out on Friday, January 13, with his ice axe, crampons and food for a day. He was expected home that evening.

'But the next day, I heard that he hadn't returned home, that he'd gone missing on Mount Baldy, the most challenging peak in that range of mountains. He'd probably been there a hundred times before. It's such a vast area and they couldn't pinpoint where he was. You do get emotional. I've shed many tears.

'Julian's first love is walking and hiking. It came before his career and he had enormous, phenomenal energy. When he walked up a mountain you could see the sparks on his boots and he'd wait for you at the top.

'He took risks. He has always been like this: wild, extreme, adventurous; never constrained by rules or boundaries. He's happiest close to a mountain top on a cold morning.'

Nick had been scheduled to meet Julian in London this week, where he was due to discuss a film project followed by their Yorkshire trip.

Julian, who recently became a grandfather for the first time, has a son, Henry, from his first marriage to Sarah Sands, a journalist and former editor of Radio 4's Today programme, as well as two daughters, Natalya and Imogen, both in their 20s, with his second wife, novelist and screenwriter Evgenia Citkowitz. 'I so feel for Evgenia; for the girls, for Henry. It's awful for them. They're in limbo.'

Nick, who works in financial services, is married to Deborah. Their four children all loved to see their Uncle Julian. Then there are his siblings. Nick thinks back to the last time the clan gathered — all five brothers — for the Monday Club, on October 31 last year. 'We went to the Sound Bar in Skipton, then out for a curry.

Julian took risks: he was wild and adventurous 

'We spoke about the past. There were some great anecdotes. Julian has run marathons all over the world and, in 1998, we went to do the one in Athens — Julian, Robin, Jeremy and I. The night before, we had a good bit of fun and we remembered it with much laughter on that last meeting.

'Julian suggested we climb to the top of the Acropolis [the ancient citadel on a rocky outcrop above Athens], so we did, and from the top we could see the Parthenon, which had scaffolding over it.

'We decided to climb that as well and when we got to the top we sat there with our legs dangling over the edge, looking over the panorama of Athens. When we climbed down we were met by three police officers. One of them grabbed Julian, who pushed the officer in the chest and

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