March is dicey, I would recommend not going after mid February. Snow gets scarce below 16.5K, and glacier gets more icy as the dry season progresses. Also, you have a better chance of clear weather earlier in the season.

That said, successful ascents have been made on spring break

Cheers
Bill

One of the things that I did in prep for our upcoming mid-January trip was to look a close-up photos of the glacier. There are some pretty good ones on this site and you can see what the surface looked like.

Also, we are taking a small set of screws and a light half rope(60m) should we encounter any 40 degree sections of water ice. While this may slow progress, it could help with the comfort factor near the crater rim & on steeper icey sections

We are also considering altering the route if necessary. If the northern face looks too icey, we may traverse to Sarcafago, and ascend to the rim from there. While it may be the same, it sounds like people tend to look at this route when the normal route is icey.

Good luck!

I've climbed it twice in March and do not think there is anything dicey about it at all. I had bad weather on only one day (summit day as it turned out) and still summited easily.

Twice in March? Your luck was much better than mine, bro

Hi JDragavon,
I will be in Mexico City and looking for climbing partners for Ixta/Orizaba around March 27-31. Would you be interested in climbing at that time?
Troy