Tashi and Nungshi Malik (born 21 June 1991) are the first siblings and twins to climb the

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven. In January 2023, ''Climbing (magazine), Climbing'' said "Today, t ...

and reach the North and South Poles and complete the

Adventurers Grand Slam The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits (Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson, and Puncak Jaya or Kosciuszko). History The original conce ...

and

Three Poles Challenge The Three Poles is an adventurer’s challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest. The first person to reach all three locations was Edmund Hillary. Hillary summited Everest in May 1953, reached the South Pol ...

Personal life

The Malik twins (Tashi and Nungshi) originally hail from

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

state, India. They were born to an Indian Army officer, Col. Virendra Singh Malik from village Anwali

Sonipat district Sonipat district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Sonipat town is the district headquarters. It is a part of National Capital Region. It is bordered by Delhi, Panipat, Rohtak, Jind, Jhajjar and Baghpat (Uttar Pr ...

, and his wife Anjoo Thapa. They settled in Dehradun after Col Malik's retirement from the Indian army. The girls attended several schools in the states of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

and

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

, including

Lawrence School, Lovedale The Lawrence School, Lovedale, is a fee-charging co-educational public boarding school located at Lovedale, a hill station on the Nilgiri Mountains in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. History Formerly known as Lawrence Memorial R ...

, near

Ootacamund Ooty (; officially Udagamandalam (), anglicized: Ootacamund , abbreviated as Udagai, ) is a town and municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located northwest of Coimbatore, and is the headquarters of N ...

. In 2013 they completed graduation in Journalism and Mass communication from

Sikkim Manipal University Sikkim Manipal University (SMU), formerly Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences, is a private university located in Gangtok, Sikkim, India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in ...

. They have a Certificate in Peace and Conflict Resolution from School of International Training in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, United States. In 2015 the twin sisters graduated in Sport and Exercise from Southern Institute of Technology, Invercargill, New Zealand. On 13 April 2023, Nungshi Malik married Avinash Jacob Varghese in her home town

Dehradun, Uttarakhand Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, ...

, India. Shortly after they moved to

Invercargill, New Zealand Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southlan ...

where they currently reside.

Mountaineering

The Malik sisters trained at the

Nehru Institute of Mountaineering The Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM India) in Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand is an institute that was established on November 14, 1965. The institute was formed to honor the great desire of Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. ...

in 2010. On Sunday, 19 May 2013, they scaled

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

, becoming the first twin sisters to do so. They were joined at the summit by

Samina Baig Samina Khayal Baig (; born 19 September 1990) is a Pakistani mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 2013, all Seven Summits by 2014, and K2 in 2022. She is the first Pakistani woman to climb Everest, K2 and the Seven Summits. She climbed Mt. ...

and they placed the flags of India and Pakistan together to symbolise peace. 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

, complete the

Explorers Grand Slam The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits ( Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson, and Puncak Jaya or Kosciuszko). History The original ...

and the youngest people to complete the Three Pole Challenge. On 16 December 2014, after climbing Mount Vinson in Antarctica, they became world's first twins and siblings to scale the 'Seven Summits' together. At Mt McKinley Summit

After scaling Mount Everest on 19 May 2013 they completed the Explorers Grand Slam on 15 July 2015 in just over two years. They are the first Indian and South Asians to complete the Explorers Grand Slam. In Dec 2015, the twins scaled Aoraki (Mt Cook) New Zealand's tallest peak becoming first female twins to do so. 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. In 2019, the sisters were awarded the prestigious Edmund Hillary Fellowship by New Zealand Government.

Seven Summits climbing details

North pole and South pole

Honours and awards

President Shri Ram Nath Kovind presenting the 2019 Nari Shakti Puruskar to Tashi Malik on 8 March 2020">Nari_Shakti_Puruskar.html" ;"title="Ram Nath Kovind presenting the 2019 Nari Shakti Puruskar">Ram Nath Kovind presenting the 2019 Nari Shakti Puruskar to Tashi Malik on 8 March 2020 * Awarded first New Zealand-India Sports Scholarship to study Graduation in Sport & Exercise at SIT, Invercargill, NZ * Attended US Dept of State's 'Global Sports Mentoring Program' for emerging women leaders in sports in Sep-Oct 2015 * Conferred India's highest adventure honour 'Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award' 2015 by the President of India on 29 August 2016 * In 2016 they were awarded the Leif Erikson Awards, Leif Erikson Young Explorers Award in Iceland by president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson *They were awarded the

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

in 2020.

References