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Popularly known as ‘Everest twins’, Nungshi and Tashi Malik have had several global landmark achievements. In 2013, barely 21 years old, they became world’s first female twins to scale Mt Everest. What’s more, 'with in just 2 years from that feat they scaled highest peaks in all the continents and skied to the North and South Poles becoming the world’s first siblings and twins, as well as the first and only South Asians to complete the ‘Adventurers Grand Slam’. At that time they were also the world’s youngest persons to achieve it. They are also the world’s first female twins to climb Mt Cook, New Zealand’s tallest peak and a virgin peak at 21000 ft in Indian Himalayas.

Despite roots in India’s conservative rural north, notorious for its skewed sex ratio in favor of boys, Tashi and Nungshi Malik have achieved several global gender iconic milestones. They have dedicated their adventure mission to Indian girl child with the motto ‘Gender Equalit y Now: Fight Female Feticide’. They use their climbing as metaphor for the ‘invisible’ mountains of gender discrimination, exclusion and denial of basic rights that millions of girls in India have to climb daily. Last year they started ‘NungshiTashi Foundation’ with the twin objectives of promoting Outdoors Leadership and girl empowerment through Outdoors.

They are also the winners of India’s highest adventure award, the prestigious ‘Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2015’ which was conferred by the President of India on 29 Aug 2016. This is the first time in India’s sporting history that pair of twins have both earned any of the highest sporting awards together. On 23 Oct 2016, the twins were conferred ‘2016 Leif Erikson Young Explorers Award’ in Iceland given by the President of Iceland.

Twitter: @NungshiTashi