On February 8th, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute released a video on its Facebook page showing the panda cub Bei Bei climbing his first tree under the careful guidance of his mother Mei Xiang.
It was day two of our 18 day trek to Everest’s Base Camp when in the afternoon our head guide Lhakpa Nurbu Sherpa sombrely reported to me that 16 Sherpas had been killed in an avalanche on the mountain.