Mera Peak Climb via Zatra La Pass in March

March is where mera peak snow conditions season by season begin to matter: Zatra La is a genuine spring-opening test. The 1,600m climb from Chutang often meets snow the whole way, sometimes deep after a late-winter storm, and the pass itself can be windy in a way calmer autumn crossings rarely are. The mera peak windy season starts in March and runs through April, as the pre-monsoon pressure gradient over the Himalaya sharpens. Lower down, the forest between Lukla and Chutang shows the first green of the year by late March, though nothing like the rhododendron show the Everest trail puts on at the same elevation a few weeks later.

Above Khare, March glacier conditions sit between winter’s firm ice and the softer, deeper snow April and May bring. Crevasse bridges are usually intact and well tested by the season’s first climbing Sherpas re-opening the route, and the fixed-line section on the final dome is set early in the month once conditions allow.

March traffic builds steadily from a quiet start. Kothe and Thangnak see the first real trickle of spring bookings by mid-month, and Khare’s rental shacks restock ahead of the season. Compared to April, though, March remains genuinely uncrowded: teahouse beds rarely need advance booking, and Base Camp and High Camp are shared with, at most, a handful of other groups on any given night.

Lukla flights typically still run from Kathmandu early in March, shifting to the Ramechhap shuttle as spring volume builds through the month; confirm the departure airport close to your date. Weather reliability is decent and improving on February, though isolated windy mornings still ground the first rotation. Read against a mera peak weather by month comparison, March is the one month where the flight forecast and the pass forecast disagree most often, so one buffer day each way covers most delays this early in spring.