“We both have always shared the same passion of climbing the mountains,” Tashi said. “Being twins it’s hard to see ourselves as totally separate from our ‘other half’ because we enjoy having a continual companion and mentor.”

Quick studies

The Maliks first started climbing in 2010 when their father enrolled them in a basic mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Dehradun, Uttarakhand state. Fast learners, they had soon completed all the courses on offer at the institute, up to the instructor level, and also learned to ski in Kashmir during this time.

“The Seven Summits posed extreme challenges both in terms of physical and mental demands, as well as financially,” Nungshi said. “Our parents put in all their savings, including a gold loan against mum’s jewellery.”

Thankfully their parents’ investment paid off, but along the way the twins had to overcome a raft of other challenges – from faulty oxygen cylinders, to aching wisdom teeth to hair-raising ladder crossings across icy crevasses.

“Serious mountaineering is as much about mental robustness as about physical strength,” Tashi said. “It is about perseverance under extreme odds. Every time climbers go into the mountains, they put themselves at risk.”

Each of the Seven Summits was a unique obstacle in itself, the sisters said, but they found Everest – the only peak among them higher than 8,000 metres – the most difficult to conquer, closely followed by the 6,190-metre Denali, or Mount McKinley, in Alaska.

In preparation for each peak, the Maliks underwent a rigorous training regimen of cardiovascular conditioning, yoga and meditation, along with a strict diet plan, to boost their endurance and ability to operate at high altitudes.

They said they approached every challenge on their journey with a deep sense of humility, and enjoy the increased self-awareness and opportunity for reflection that adventuring affords them.

“Despite the ever-lurking risks, we find climbing very therapeutic, very spiritual and very self-empowering,” Nungshi said. “Each new challenge is of course an opportunity to learn new skills, gain new insights and build greater experience.”

In 2015, the twins founded the NungshiTashi Foundation – dedicated to empowering women and girls through a shared love of mountaineering and the outdoors – and in 2016, were presented with India’s highest honour for adventure sports, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, by the then-president.

In the years since, they have worked as motivational speakers and founded Base Camp Festival India, which bills itself as the country’s first outdoor lifestyle and adventure festival.

They also took part this year in a Swiss tourism initiative called the “100% Women Peak Challenge” that saw more than 700 women mountaineers from 20 countries climb all 48 of Switzerland’s 4,000-metre peaks.

And the Maliks still have lots planned for the future – from writing a book, to producing their own adventure video series, to an epic four-year, 5,000km journey through Antarctica, the Arctic, Patagonia and Greenland that they are preparing to embark on soon.

“Mountaineering has taught us that life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. The courage to cross the barriers in our minds, to cross the mountains in our hearts,” Nungshi said.

“In a sense we see our work as trailblazing,” Tashi added. “And something that will contribute immensely to mainstream climbing and adventure sports in India and will earn higher respectability from general public.”