Meet the Team
Rick Silber
Rick Silber has spent a lifetime pursuing the world's wild places — on foot, on rock, and on ice. His introduction to the mountains came during college, through the peaks and ridgelines of New Hampshire's White Mountains. From there, his horizons expanded steadily outward. A winter expedition with NOLS took him deep into the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park; further training in Montana's Beartooth Mountains sharpened the technical skills that would carry him to summits on four continents.
Over the years, Rick has climbed extensively in the American West, the Presidential Range of New Hampshire — mostly in winter, when it earns its reputation as some of the most demanding terrain in the eastern United States — the Alps, Alaska, Tanzania, and most recently the Khumbu Himalaya of Nepal.
It was in Nepal that Rick found something beyond the summits. His deep and abiding relationship with the Sherpa community — built over years of expeditions, partnerships, and shared purpose — led him to co-found International Mountain Trekking with Sherpa mountaineer and longtime partner Sonam Jangbu Sherpa. That partnership, rooted in mutual respect and a commitment to economic justice for the Sherpa community, remains the beating heart of everything IMT does.
Rick is also Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Himalayan Climate & Science Institute (HCSI-Nepal.org), which brings researchers, conservationists, and educators to the Himalaya to document and respond to the accelerating impacts of climate change on one of the world's most fragile and consequential ecosystems.
Sonam Jangbu Sherpa
Sonam Jangbu Sherpa was born in Phortse — a small village perched high in Nepal's Khumbu region that has produced more Everest summiteers than anywhere else on Earth. It is a place where mountaineering is not a career choice but a birthright, and where the relationship between people and peaks runs as deep as the valleys between them.
Sonam embodies that tradition completely. A high-altitude guide of extraordinary experience, he has summited Everest multiple times — from both the South Col and the North Ridge — and has led climbers on expeditions throughout the Khumbu Himalaya. His technical credentials are impeccable: a graduate of the renowned Khumbu Climbing Center in Phortse, a licensed Nepal National Guide, and a certified Wilderness First Responder through the International Mountain Medicine Center. He has guided expeditions for some of the most respected mountaineering organizations in the world, including International Mountain Guides and Adventure Consultants.
But Sonam is far more than a mountaineer. A devoted student of Tibetan Buddhism, he studied as a monk at Tengboche Monastery — one of the most sacred sites in the Himalaya — under the guidance of the Tengboche Lama. He holds a degree from the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, Varanasi, India, the birthplace of the Buddha's first teachings.
It is this rare combination — world-class technical expertise, deep cultural knowledge, and genuine spiritual grounding — that makes Sonam an irreplaceable guide, an extraordinary partner, and the soul of every IMT expedition he leads.
Yehuda Goldman
Yehuda Goldman is a seasoned documentary filmmaker and creative director who approaches every project with a fresh, curious eye and a commitment to finding the emotional truth at the heart of every story. His diverse career has taken him from producing underwater films with the legendary Jacques Cousteau to filming rocket launches at Cape Canaveral to creating acclaimed television series to interviewing presidents, politicians, military heroes, and Fortune 500 executives.
For IMT, Yehuda directed Look Down Not Up, a multiple award-winning documentary capturing the 2022 Mushroom Trek expedition in the Himalayas. It is a testament to his ability to transform compelling human and scientific stories into cinematic experiences that stay with audiences long after viewing.
Yehuda is the founder and creative director of Blue Shark Creative, LLC, a full-service multidisciplinary creative agency delivering world-class media, digital activations, and live events. He brings that same creative conviction to every IMT expedition — turning remote Himalayan journeys into stories that inform, inspire, and endure.
Shiva Devkota, PhD
Dr. Shiva Devkota is one of Nepal's leading mycologists and a pioneering voice in Himalayan biodiversity science. He serves as Co-Chair of the HCSI Science Advisory Board, bringing to that role a rare combination of rigorous field research, international academic credentials, and deep commitment to building scientific capacity in Nepal.
A research scientist at the Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (GIIS) in Nepal — an institute led by young PhD scholars dedicated to elevating Nepal's scientific impact on the world stage — Dr. Devkota currently leads the "Digitization of Mycological Collections in Nepal" project, funded by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia (GBIF/BIFA). He also contributes as a Research Fellow to the IPBES Assessment of Sustainable Use of Wild Species, a landmark global initiative shaping international policy on biodiversity conservation.
Dr. Devkota holds an M.Sc. in Botany with a major in Mycology and an M.A. in Sociology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and earned his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution in 2017 from the University of Bern and the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Switzerland. His research focuses on the ecology, sociology, and conservation genetics of wild mushrooms, caterpillar fungus, lichens, and plants across the Himalayan region — organisms that are not only scientifically fascinating but increasingly threatened by climate change.
Beyond his research, Dr. Devkota is a skilled architect of multi-disciplinary national and international scientific partnerships, helping connect Nepal's extraordinary natural heritage to the global scientific community.
Tek Bahadur Gharti Magar
Tek Bahadur Gharti Magar | Senior Birding & Expedition Guide
Tek Bahadur Gharti Magar is one of Nepal's most accomplished field naturalists, with over 15 years of dedicated birding expertise spanning the country's full ecological range — from the steaming lowland Terai forests to the stark, breathtaking landscapes of the high Himalayas. Few guides anywhere in the world can match his combination of scientific knowledge, fieldcraft, and the kind of instinctive feel for wild places that only comes from a lifetime spent in them.
Beginning his career in nature guiding in the early 2000s, Tek has built exceptional expertise in avian identification, behavior, and habitat ecology, earning the confidence of international birding groups ranging from enthusiastic beginners to serious ornithologists. His patience is legendary, his eye is razor sharp, and his uncanny ability to locate elusive species in dense habitat has become something of a trademark.
Tek has contributed to ornithological surveys and conservation initiatives with Bird Conservation Nepal and Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, with fieldwork encompassing species monitoring, migratory bird studies, and biodiversity assessments across Nepal's most critical wildlife corridors. He is a certified trekking and adventure guide through both the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) and the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA).
Fluent in Nepali, English, and Japanese, Tek brings both scientific rigor and genuine cultural warmth to every expedition — creating an experience that is as enriching personally as it is scientifically rewarding. With Tek in the field, every IMT birding expedition becomes something more than a checklist: it becomes a profound encounter with Nepal's remarkable avian world.
David Wimpfheimer
David Wimpfheimer is a naturalist and biologist who has led nature and birding tours for the last forty years. His passion and work has taken him to Alaska, Mexico, Arizona, Scotland, Iceland and all parts of California. Groups including the Smithsonian Institution, Road Scholar, Point Reyes Field Seminars and the California Academy of Sciences have enjoyed his expertise of birds, marine mammals and terrestrial ecology. David’s passion for birds has taken him to many countries on every continent.
