The country urgently needs an adventure sports policy’
Mountaineers Tashi and Nungshi Malik, popularly known as the ‘Everest Twins’ have many amazing feats to their name. And recently they were most excited to represent India in a Women’s only Peak Challenge in Switzerland, where they took up the challenge of climbing some of the 4,000metre peaks in the Swiss Alps.
“When it comes to anything ‘India’, the joy and pride in representing our country is inexplicable. We’ve been so fortunate to have that sense of being flag-bearer for a dozen times, from a young age,” says Tashi, adding, “To participate in a mountaineering expedition with a line-up of equally passionate female mountaineers on a 4,000 metre peak was surreal.”
Nungshi adds that one of the main reasons this trip became so noteworthy for both of them was because it was their first ever climb in the Swiss Alps. “The Swiss Alps has over 40 4,000-metre peaks and we were eager to climb on a select few... From Mount Pilatus, a majestic mountain massif overlooking Lucerne, to the beautiful Breithorn, all present scaling opportunities, unlike ones we had ever encountered before,” she says.
The 30-year-old twins, who scaled Mount Everest in 2013, also believe that Indian representation is crucial in this mountaineering campaign as it will influence more Indian women to take up adventure sports and be part of to such life-changing experiences. “The country urgently needs an adventure sports policy! Few can believe that even the status of adventure sports in India is vague. The Sports Ministry categorises it as a ‘Youth affair’ and some states have placed it under ‘sports’ while others under the tourism department,” says Tashi, suggesting that for ‘meaningful growth’, adventure sports needs “guidelines, government’s active support and enhanced training and accountability of adventure tour operators.” They also feel a need to promote mountaineering as a genderneutral sport. “The more the number of women climbers, the faster mountaineering will become gender neutral,” Nungshi concludes.