Nungshi and Tashi Malik are true adventurers who have completed the Explorer’s Grand Slam, which consists of summiting the highest peak on each continent and skiing the North and South Poles. By doing so together, they became the first female twins to summit Mount Everest and the youngest to complete the Grand Slam at the age of 23. Their motivation for high altitude climbing and traversing the arctic has evolved from self-discovery to the empowerment of girls and women. In order to maximize their impact on female empowerment in their homeland of South Asia, the twins started the NungshiTashi Foundation in 2015 to encourage equal and active participation of women in the outdoors by providing public school programs and adventure activities that build confidence, leadership skills and outdoor livelihoods, giving their participants the opportunity to set their sights high and reach their full potential.
Recently, Mountain Hardwear launched the Impact Initiative to inspire the public by the impact stories of their ambassadors and spark education, conversation, and ultimately, action. Nungshi and Tashi are two of Mountain Hardwear’s Ambassadors of Impact, who have a collective mission to inspire people to support solutions to help protect the planet, environmentally and socially. As part of the Impact Initiative, the twins are in good company with other environmentalists, thought leaders, humanitarians and storytellers, such as ecologist Charles Post, Founder and CEO of Rainforest Connection Topher White, and polar explorer Vincent Colliard.
The Malik sisters lead by example in their quest to empower young women to become active participants in the outdoors. We had an opportunity to ask them a few questions about what empowers and inspires them in their roles as ambassadors for Mountain Hardwear’s Impact Initiative and as leaders in the global outdoor industry.
How did your journey as adventurers begin?
Our dad, [a retired Indian Army officer], had huge influence in making us adventurers. As early as we can recall, we were exposed to an “out of the box” upbringing. How many 4-year-olds have gone parasailing? Our dad took us both together, tied to his back with cadets’ T-shirts, as there was no harness made small enough. Our mom’s love taught us the value of caution, but our dad instilled the sense of daring and risk-taking!
How has Mountain Hardwear’s Impact Initiative helped promote your philanthropic work?
The Mountain Hardwear Impact Initiative draws on the universally acknowledged principle that real-life stories inspire the most. Sharing the good work of positive change-makers acts as rocket fuel for the dreams and hopes of others. It’s inspired us to set higher benchmarks and touch as many lives as possible.
What’s next for the NungshiTashi Foundation in 2018?
We’re planning to launch our foundation’s School Outdoor Learning and Education (SOLE) and girl empowerment program in India. We believe empowered people will be the most passionate about protecting the environment and engage in solutions to emerging challenges.
Do you have any expeditions planned for future?
Among our dream adventures is a full-length ski expedition of the world’s four ice caps that will entail skiing over 5,000 kilometers over the world’s most remote and coldest places: Antarctica, the Arctic, Patagonia and Greenland. Only a handful have ever completed this challenge!
What steps do you see being made for gender equality in the outdoor industry? What could we be doing better?
In recent years, there has been a spurt in the enthusiasm and support for female adventurers. Globally, women comprise less than 25-30% of full-time adventurers. With the explosion of social media, the call for gender equality has gained momentum and impacted the outdoor industry positively. Women in the outdoors have been shouting for more female-driven stories, and thus more brands are providing support for female adventurers and their projects.
Which fellow Ambassadors’ projects serve as an inspiration to you and why?
All the ambassadors of the Impact Initiative are doing exceptional work. However, to us, Topher White’s Rainforest Connection and Vincent Colliard’s IceLegacy projects are most inspiring. Their projects act as a reminder there is a serious weather change happening around the world and as adventurers, we see it firsthand. People need to be cautious of their actions and take steps to protect, preserve, promote and respect nature. Every [Ambassador of Impact] contributes to the environment in an action-driven way, and in our eyes, that’s what brings hope for a better future.
Images courtesy of Mountain Hardwear.
xx The RANGE Crew
This article was originally published in RANGE Magazine Issue Eight.