IDA-DEN-IDA winter reliability

[FR8dognit]

Hi,
Wondering if anyone can provide me info on this city pair during the winter. We are planning a move to the Star Valley area in WY and will use IDA and JAC to commute to DEN. IDA has a later flight coming home, so I'll probably be using this airport more.
Couple of questions:

Do these flights cancel often in the winter?
Are they often weight restricted?
I have looked on passrider.com at the frequency, but am ignorant as to who operates these flights.
Any other info I should be asking but haven't would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
FR8

 

[trip]

Usually 3-4 flights a day to each. Frequency and equipment will change with the season.
JAC will be OK as long as snow is not accumulating on the runway, if it is we will most likely not be landing or T/O. The airport is pretty good about sweeping the runway to keep it clean. IDA is usually the CRJ200, if alt fuel and full 50 pax it could be weight limited so no actual. There are some jumpseaters on those route's so you might see some competition, maybe one of them will chime in. Summer time should no problem other than the usual full loads.

Star Valley, 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad sledding

 

[spudskier]

P.S. it's SkyWest, I used to live in IDA. CRJs don't deal well with first flights of the day when it's subzero, there were problems and a lot of cancellations... IDA late flights seem to be one of the first to be cancelled when there's weather in DEN... can always 2-leg through SLC

 

[340drvr]

And there will be days when you can't even make the drive to either airport.

 

[IBNAV8R]

CRJs don't deal well with first flights of the day when it's subzero, there were problems and a lot of cancellations...

Ironic, considering the airplane is designed and built in the Great White North. Take off, eh.

 

[BigPappa]

What you do is warm the airplane up until about 15 mins before departure, and then you do the first flight checks. Almost never a problem doing it that way.

 

[FR8dognit]

And there will be days when you can't even make the drive to either airport.

I understand the harsh winters. We lived in Northern MN during a couple of winters. I understand cold. We want out of TX [heat and no public lands] and it comes down to working a whole lot and living in CO or working about 2/3 as much and living in WY. The CO taxes are nuts...we figured the savings living in WY vs. CO is on the order of 10-12K in taxes a yr. for us.

What you do is warm the airplane up until about 15 mins before departure, and then you do the first flight checks. Almost never a problem doing it that way.

We used to go to Wal-Mart and get a butane torch to warm our nose gear pin in the Falcon 20 [TVF] just to get it to engage. Second the warming AC up...any AC will not do well at -30 sitting all night.

...there were problems and a lot of cancellations... IDA late flights seem to be one of the first to be cancelled when there's weather in DEN... can always 2-leg through SLC

Considering just doing SLC anyway and going to LAS...more [on-line] flights and I'd probably have way more seniority there. Probably just commute twice a month and work 3 day backed with a 2 day and live on less.

Thanks for responding. We are going to rent and see if we can tolerate the winter WX. We spent 2 months up there last year, but it was during the warm months. I figure if you watch the WX and get out before major problems that should help to avoid a lot of the heart ache. I admit I am ignorant on mountain living and need all the help I can get. We already live in a very rural area in TX, so isolation is not a problem. We live in a town of 124 people now. 45 Minutes to a Wal-Mart and 25 minutes to a grocery store. Any other tips and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again to the responders.....funny---its actually been nice in TX this week--lots of rain and cooler WX. It has always been our dream to live up there...gotta try it. Our favorite area is the Driggs area. I will not pay ID state income tax though. 7.4%...no thanks, not when its 0% income tax, .4% property tax and 4% sales tax 1/2 mile to the East. So we are going a bit South and a little East for the greener [snowy] pastures of WY. We won't get locked in to a house unless we've been there a couple of years.

 

[trip]

There is a bunch of WN commuters going SLC-LAS not to mention DL and SKW.
I would find a place to hole up in the front range within driving.

 

[labbats]

Seems Cheyenne or Laramie WY would make the most sense for your situation. I'd take a drive over a plane commute any day.

Best of luck on your endeavors.

 

[spudskier]

The winters REALLY aren't that bad... they're cold for sure, but it's not that bad. I don't think IDA can hold a candle to the Dakotas or MN. We just don't usually get as much snow. It is a desert climate. There's everything you need in IDA, it's a very modern, quickly growing, mostly white collar city.