xESMF: Kernel dies running tutorial example

I am running the tutorial at https://xesmf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Curvilinear_grid.html and the kernel dies. I updated all packages and still have issues. Does anybody have any idea where the incompatibility is coming from? here is the environment I am running in:

name: pangeo
channels:
  - conda-forge
  - defaults
dependencies:
  - asn1crypto=0.24.0=py36_3
  - bleach=2.1.3=py_0
  - bokeh=0.13.0=py36_0
  - bottleneck=1.2.1=py36h7eb728f_1
  - cffi=1.11.5=py36h5e8e0c9_1
  - cftime=1.0.1=py36h7eb728f_0
  - chardet=3.0.4=py36_3
  - click=6.7=py_1
  - cloudpickle=0.5.2=py_0
  - cryptography=2.3.1=py36hdffb7b8_0
  - cryptography-vectors=2.3.1=py36_0
  - curl=7.59.0=0
  - cycler=0.10.0=py36_0
  - cytoolz=0.9.0.1=py36_0
  - dask=0.17.1=py_2
  - dask-core=0.17.1=py_0
  - dask-jobqueue=0.1.1=py_0
  - decorator=4.2.1=py36_0
  - distributed=1.21.3=py36_0
  - docrep=0.2.3=py36_0
  - entrypoints=0.2.3=py36_1
  - esmf=7.1.0r=1
  - esmpy=7.1.0r=py36_1
  - expat=2.2.5=0
  - fontconfig=2.13.1=h65d0f4c_0
  - freetype=2.9.1=h6debe1e_4
  - geos=3.6.2=hfc679d8_3
  - gettext=0.19.8.1=0
  - gmp=6.1.2=0
  - h5netcdf=0.6.2=py_0
  - h5py=2.8.0=py36h470a237_0
  - hdf4=4.2.13=0
  - hdf5=1.10.1=2
  - heapdict=1.0.0=py36_0
  - html5lib=1.0.1=py_0
  - icu=58.2=0
  - idna=2.7=py36_2
  - ipykernel=4.8.2=py36_0
  - ipython=6.2.1=py36_1
  - ipython_genutils=0.2.0=py36_0
  - jedi=0.11.1=py36_0
  - jinja2=2.10=py36_0
  - jpeg=9c=h470a237_1
  - jsonschema=2.6.0=py36_1
  - jupyter_client=5.2.3=py36_0
  - jupyter_core=4.4.0=py_0
  - jupyterlab=0.31.12=py36_1
  - jupyterlab_launcher=0.10.5=py36_0
  - kiwisolver=1.0.1=py36_1
  - krb5=1.14.2=0
  - libedit=3.1.20170329=0
  - libffi=3.2.1=3
  - libiconv=1.15=0
  - libnetcdf=4.5.0=3
  - libpng=1.6.34=0
  - libsodium=1.0.15=1
  - libssh2=1.8.0=2
  - libtiff=4.0.9=he6b73bb_1
  - libuuid=2.32.1=h470a237_2
  - libxcb=1.13=0
  - libxml2=2.9.8=0
  - libxslt=1.1.32=h88dbc4e_2
  - locket=0.2.0=py36_1
  - lxml=4.2.4=py36hc9114bc_0
  - markupsafe=1.0=py36_0
  - mistune=0.8.3=py_0
  - mpi=1.0=mpich
  - mpi4py=3.0.0=py36_0
  - mpich=3.2.1=0
  - msgpack-python=0.5.5=py36_0
  - nbconvert=5.3.1=py_1
  - nbformat=4.4.0=py36_0
  - nbserverproxy=0.8.3=py36_0
  - ncurses=5.9=10
  - netcdf-fortran=4.4.4=7
  - netcdf4=1.4.0=py36_0
  - notebook=5.4.1=py36_0
  - olefile=0.45.1=py_1
  - openblas=0.2.20=8
  - owslib=0.16.0=py_1
  - packaging=17.1=py_0
  - pandas=0.23.4=py36hf8a1672_0
  - pandoc=2.1.3=0
  - pandocfilters=1.4.1=py36_0
  - parso=0.1.1=py_0
  - partd=0.3.8=py36_0
  - pexpect=4.4.0=py36_0
  - pickleshare=0.7.4=py36_0
  - pillow=5.2.0=py36hc736899_1
  - pip=9.0.2=py36_0
  - proj4=4.9.3=h470a237_8
  - prompt_toolkit=1.0.15=py36_0
  - psutil=5.4.3=py36_0
  - ptyprocess=0.5.2=py36_0
  - pycparser=2.18=py_1
  - pyepsg=0.3.2=py_1
  - pygments=2.2.0=py36_0
  - pyopenssl=18.0.0=py36_0
  - pyparsing=2.2.0=py36_0
  - pyproj=1.9.5.1=py36h508ed2a_3
  - pyshp=1.2.12=py_0
  - pysocks=1.6.8=py36_2
  - python-dateutil=2.7.0=py_0
  - pytz=2018.3=py_0
  - pyyaml=3.12=py36_1
  - pyzmq=17.0.0=py36_3
  - readline=7.0=0
  - requests=2.19.1=py36_1
  - send2trash=1.5.0=py_0
  - setuptools=39.0.1=py36_0
  - shapely=1.6.4=py36h164cb2d_1
  - simplegeneric=0.8.1=py36_0
  - six=1.11.0=py36_1
  - sortedcontainers=1.5.9=py36_0
  - tblib=1.3.2=py36_0
  - terminado=0.8.1=py36_0
  - testpath=0.3.1=py36_0
  - tk=8.6.8=ha92aebf_0
  - toolz=0.9.0=py_0
  - tornado=5.0.1=py36_1
  - traitlets=4.3.2=py36_0
  - urllib3=1.23=py36_1
  - wcwidth=0.1.7=py36_0
  - webencodings=0.5=py36_0
  - wheel=0.30.0=py36_2
  - xarray=0.10.8=py36_0
  - xorg-libxau=1.0.8=3
  - xorg-libxdmcp=1.1.2=3
  - xz=5.2.4=h470a237_1
  - yaml=0.1.7=0
  - zeromq=4.2.3=2
  - zict=0.1.3=py_0
  - zlib=1.2.11=0
  - blas=1.0=mkl
  - ca-certificates=2018.03.07=0
  - cartopy=0.16.0=py36hf32a85a_0
  - certifi=2018.8.24=py36_1
  - dbus=1.13.2=h714fa37_1
  - glib=2.56.1=h000015b_0
  - gst-plugins-base=1.14.0=hbbd80ab_1
  - gstreamer=1.14.0=hb453b48_1
  - intel-openmp=2018.0.0=hc7b2577_8
  - libgcc=7.2.0=h69d50b8_2
  - libgcc-ng=7.2.0=hdf63c60_3
  - libgfortran=3.0.0=1
  - libgfortran-ng=7.2.0=hdf63c60_3
  - libopenblas=0.2.20=h9ac9557_7
  - libstdcxx-ng=7.2.0=hdf63c60_3
  - matplotlib=2.2.3=py36hb69df0a_0
  - mkl=2019.0=117
  - mkl_fft=1.0.4=py36h4414c95_1
  - mkl_random=1.0.1=py36h4414c95_1
  - numpy=1.15.0=py36h1b885b7_0
  - numpy-base=1.15.0=py36h3dfced4_0
  - openssl=1.0.2p=h14c3975_0
  - pcre=8.42=h439df22_0
  - pyqt=5.9.2=py36h22d08a2_0
  - python=3.6.3=h1284df2_4
  - qt=5.9.6=h52aff34_0
  - scikit-learn=0.19.1=py36h7aa7ec6_0
  - scipy=1.1.0=py36hc49cb51_0
  - sip=4.19.8=py36hf484d3e_0
  - sqlite=3.24.0=h84994c4_0
prefix: /glade/u/home/gloege/miniconda3/envs/pangeo

pip packages

Package              Version
-------------------- -----------
asn1crypto           0.24.0
bleach               2.1.3
bokeh                0.13.0
Bottleneck           1.2.1
Cartopy              0.16.0
certifi              2018.8.24
cffi                 1.11.5
cftime               1.0.1
chardet              3.0.4
click                6.7
cloudpickle          0.5.2
cryptography         2.3.1
cryptography-vectors 2.3.1
cycler               0.10.0
Cython               0.28.3
cytoolz              0.9.0.1
dask                 0.17.1
dask-jobqueue        0.1.1
decorator            4.2.1
distributed          1.21.3
docrep               0.2.3
entrypoints          0.2.3
ESMPy                7.1.0.dev0
h5netcdf             0.6.2
h5py                 2.8.0
heapdict             1.0.0
html5lib             1.0.1
idna                 2.7
ipykernel            4.8.2
ipython              6.2.1
ipython-genutils     0.2.0
jedi                 0.11.1
Jinja2               2.10
jsonschema           2.6.0
jupyter-client       5.2.3
jupyter-core         4.4.0
jupyterlab           0.31.12
jupyterlab-launcher  0.10.5
kiwisolver           1.0.1
locket               0.2.0
lxml                 4.2.4
MarkupSafe           1.0
matplotlib           2.2.3
mistune              0.8.3
mkl-fft              1.0.4
mkl-random           1.0.1
mpi4py               3.0.0
msgpack-python       0.5.5
nbconvert            5.3.1
nbformat             4.4.0
nbserverproxy        0.8.3
netCDF4              1.4.0
notebook             5.4.1
numpy                1.15.0
olefile              0.45.1
OWSLib               0.16.0
packaging            17.1
pandas               0.23.4
pandocfilters        1.4.1
parso                0.1.1
partd                0.3.8
pexpect              4.4.0
pickleshare          0.7.4
Pillow               5.2.0
pip                  18.0
prompt-toolkit       1.0.15
psutil               5.4.3
ptyprocess           0.5.2
pycparser            2.18
pyepsg               0.3.2
Pygments             2.2.0
pyOpenSSL            18.0.0
pyparsing            2.2.0
pyproj               1.9.5.1
pyshp                1.2.12
PySocks              1.6.8
python-dateutil      2.7.0
pytz                 2018.3
PyYAML               3.12
pyzmq                17.0.0
requests             2.19.1
scikit-learn         0.19.1
scipy                1.1.0
Send2Trash           1.5.0
setuptools           39.0.1
Shapely              1.6.4.post1
simplegeneric        0.8.1
six                  1.11.0
sortedcontainers     1.5.9
tblib                1.3.2
terminado            0.8.1
testpath             0.3.1
toolz                0.9.0
tornado              5.0.1
traitlets            4.3.2
urllib3              1.23
wcwidth              0.1.7
webencodings         0.5
wheel                0.30.0
xarray               0.10.8
xesmf                0.1.1
zict                 0.1.3