On Nov. 8, 2007, Dr. Bose did hip-resurfacing surgery on my left hip at the Apollo Specialty Hospital in Chennai, India. In June, 2008, I attempted to climb Stok Kangri, a 6,000+ metre peak in the Himalayas. I didn't make it to the summit, but this was no fault of my hip. My hip was 100%, and even six nights in a tent didn't bother it. Rather, our attempt was foiled by weather. There is a narrow time window--June and July--for doing this mountain, and I tried for early June. Unfortunately, this year saw an unprecedented amount of snow high on the mountain, with the result that there was extreme avalanche hazard for several hundred vertical metres bensath the summit. Thus we had to abandon the attempt. Maybe next year!

Maryann with Sanjay at Stok Kangri base camp

Maryann with Phuntog (guide) and another climber. The snow to our left is hip-deep. We are above Stok Kangri base camp. From here we had a view of some of the remainder of the route and Phuntog said he had never seen so much snow on the mountain.