Tashi and Nungshi Malik

Malik twins
Tashi and Nungshi Malik doing endurance trek at the foothills of Himalayas
Born	Tashi Malik and Nungshi Malik 21 Jun 1991[1] Military Hospital, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
Nationality	Indian
Known for	Guinness record holders as first female twins to climb Mount Everest and first siblings and twins to scale the Seven Summits World's First siblings, first twins and youngest persons, as well as First South Asians to complete Explorers Grand Slam (last degree).

Tashi and Nungshi Malik (born on 21 June 1991) are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles and complete the Adventurers Grand Slam and Three Poles Challenge.

At summit of Mount McKinley, Alaska

Early life and career

The Malik twins (Tashi and Nungshi) originally hail from Haryana state and now reside in Dehradun, India.^[2] They were born to a retired Indian Army officer, Col Virendra Singh Malik, from the village of Anwali^[1] in the Sonepat District of Haryana, who settled in Dehradun after retiring from the army.^[3] They attended several schools in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Manipur, including Lawrence School, Lovedale, near Ootacamund. At Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, they scored 88% and 86% in the All India board exams (94% & 92% in Commerce). They stood first & third in the girls’ section. Between July 2009 and January 2013 they studied at Sikkim Manipal University, each gaining a first division degree in Journalism & Mass Communication.^[4][5]

Future plans

1. mission2for7

Post Everest, the twin sisters successfully completed #mission2for7, conquering the tallest peak in each of the seven continents for the cause of the Indian Girl Child, with the Vision: •Through mountaineering achievements, promote mountaineering as a sport. •Encourage the girl child to dream and achieve. •To win on behalf of all girl children. On 16 Dec 2014, Nungshi & Tashi scaled Mt Vinson in Antarctica, completing their 'Seven Summits' and becoming the World’s First twin sisters to conquer: Mt Everest (World’s & Asia’s highest peak) May 2013 Mt Elbrus (Europe’s highest peak) Aug 2013 Mt Aconcagua (S. America’s highest peak) Jan 2014 Mt Carstensz Pyramid (Australasia’s highest peak) Mar 2014 (World's youngest and 2nd pair of twins) Denali (N America's highest peak) Jun 2014 Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa’s highest peak) Feb 2012 and O3 Jul 2015 By climbing each of the seven summits together, they have achieved unique distinction of becoming World's First siblings and first twins to do so. After the Seven Summits, on 28 Dec 2014 they reached South Pole on skies and on 21 Apr 2015 by skiing to North Pole the twins have completed the 'Explorers Grand Slam' under mission#UnchaiyonSeAage (beyond heights). Apart from becoming world's first siblings and twins, they are now the youngest persons ever to complete the Explorers Grand Slam.^[6] They are also the first Indian and South Asian women to achieve this distinction.^[7] Currently they are pursuing higher studies in Exercise & sports science in Invercargill, New Zealand. They also wish to contribute to peace through adventure. Together with Samina Baig of Pakistan, they hoisted their national flags on Everest to mark their unflinching resolve to work for peace between the two nations. And they see gender challenges as one of their common enemy. "Our women face similar gender challenges; let’s fight them together ...if our women progress, our societies will. And peace is assured!" said Samina, Tashi & Nungshi on the eve of their final push for the summit!^[8]

Climbing Mount Everest

They trained hard at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in 2010.^[3] On Sunday, 19 May 2013, they successfully scaled Mount Everest, becoming the first twin sisters in the world to do so.^[9][10] They were joined at the summit by Samina Baig and they placed national flags of India and Pakistan close together to spread peace between the two countries.^[11][12][13] CLIMBATHON 2013 The twin sisters recently conquered a virgin peak at 21000 ft as part of CLIMBATHON 2013 funded by Indian Mountaineering Foundation. Thus they became first twin sisters to do so! Guinness World Records has featured the twin sisters in its 60th edition as first female twins to scale Everest together and in its 2016 issue as the first twins and siblings to complete Seven Summits.^[14] On 16 Dec 2014, after climbing Mt Vinson in Antarctica, they became world's first twins and siblings to scale the 'Seven Summits' together.^[15][16] A summary of NungshiTashi's mountaineering and adventure milestones is given below: World Records

• First female twins to scale Mt Everest (Climbed at 21 years of age)
• First siblings & twins to climb ‘Seven Summits’ (highest peaks in all continents)
• First siblings & twins to complete Adventurers Grand Slam & the Three Pole Challenge
• Youngest persons ever to complete Adventurers Grand Slam & the Three Pole Challenge
• First twins to reach South Pole on Skis (last degree)
• First twins to reach North Pole on Skis, (last degree)

National/Regional Records

• First South Asians to complete Adventurers Grand Slam & the Three Pole Challenge
• Youngest and Fastest South Asians to complete Adventurers Grand Slam & the Three Pole Challenge (two years and a month)
• Youngest South Asians to scale the ‘Seven Summits’
• First Indian women to climb all ‘Seven Summits’ in first attempt (overall 2nd Indian women and third Indians)
• Youngest and fastest South Asians to reach North & South Pole on Skis (completed in less than 4 months) ^{[17][18][19][20]} They were conferred India's highest adventure honor 'Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award' 2015 by the President of India on 29 Aug 2016 ^[21][22] On 23 Oct 2016, they were awarded 2016 Leif Erikson Young Explorer Award in Husavik, by the President of Iceland ^[23]

References

• Guinness World Records 2015, page 152

See also

• List of Mount Everest records of India