E-Paper
‘Everest twins’ bag Leif Erikson Explorer Award in Iceland
Dehradun-based twin sisters, Nungshi and Tashi Malik, have received the 2016 Leif Erikson Explorer Award in Iceland for becoming the youngest people to complete the Explorers Grand Slam -- an adventurers challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and all of the Seven Summits.
Dehradun-based twin sisters, Nungshi and Tashi Malik, have received the 2016 Leif Erikson Explorer Award in Iceland for becoming the youngest people to complete the Explorers Grand Slam -- an adventurers challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and all of the Seven Summits.
The twins, 25, received the award on October 23 under the category of great achievements in exploration by a person under the age of 30.
Their father Col VK Malik (retd) told Hindustan Times on Saturday, “We are indeed delighted as there are very few global awards for explorers. Leif Erikson Award is one of the prestigious awards besides Nat Geo.”
The Iceland-based Exploration Museum -- which instituted the award -- has uploaded 1.37 minute video of the twins on YouTube that shows the journey of the twins in scaling some of the difficult peaks.
“They are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles,” says the video’s introduction.
The award is given annually in three categories: for a recent or a lifetime achievement in the field of exploration, for great achievements in exploration by a person under the age of 30 and to a person or an organisation that has worked to promote and preserve exploration history.
In 2015, the sisters, popularly known as “Everest Twins”, featured in Guinness World Records for becoming first twins to scale Mt Everest. In 2016, they again featured in Guinness for becoming first twins to scale Seven Summits.
In 2017, their names will be included in Guinness for becoming first twins to complete Explorers Grand Slam.
