The Malik twins (Tashi and Nungshi) originally hail from Haryana state, India.[2] They were born to an Indian Army officer, Col. Virendra Singh Malik from village Anwali Sonipat district of Haryana, and his wife Anjoo Thapa. They settled in Dehradun after Col Malik's retirement from the Indian army.[3]
The Malik sisters trained at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in 2010.[3] On Sunday, 19 May 2013, they scaled Mount Everest, becoming the first twin sisters to do so.[6][7] They were joined at the summit by Samina Baig and they placed the flags of India and Pakistan together to symbolise peace.[8][9][10]
The twins participated in 'Climbathon 2013' where they scaled a virgin peak at 21000 ft funded by Indian Mountaineering Foundation in August 2013. They are also the first female twins to complete Seven Summits, complete the Explorers Grand Slam and the youngest people to complete the Three Pole Challenge.[11] On 16 December 2014, after climbing Mount Vinson in Antarctica, they became world's first twins and siblings to scale the 'Seven Summits' together.[12][13]
After scaling Mount Everest on 19 May 2013 they completed the Explorers Grand Slam on 15 July 2015 in just over two years.[14] They are the first Indian and South Asians to complete the Explorers Grand Slam.[15]
In Dec 2015, the twins scaled Aoraki (Mt Cook) New Zealand's tallest peak becoming first female twins to do so.[16]
In September 2019, Nungshi and Tashi led Indian 'Khukuri Warriors' in the World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji that pitched 66 teams of adventure athletes from 30 nations against forces of nature and against each other traversing 671 km of rugged Fijian landscape, ocean, rivers, lakes and jungles using dozen adventure activities. They became the first and only South Asians to participate in this global adventure race.[17][18]
In 2019, the sisters were awarded the prestigious Edmund Hillary Fellowship by New Zealand Government.[19]
^Roxburgh, Tracey (7 December 2016). "Twins peak: a Mt Cook first". Otago Daily Times Online News. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.