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Originally Posted by DylanScores
We are thinking around Merryvale,Glenmerry and Fruitvale areas. We are also looking at public schools within those communities as well as St.Michaels which has performed considerably well in provincial standards but I think that they charge monthly fees for each child enrolled as per their website. How reliable is the Trail airport during winter season? Is it better than the Castlegar airport?
I know a lot of people fly out of Spokane and they say it's cheaper, but we will surely miss driving to the airport and get a direct flight here in Calgary.
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The problem with the Trail airport during winter is they have to follow visual approach rules, because YZZ doesn't have the technology to land without a clear site line. I'm sure some of the flight nerds can better explain this in technical terms. So, Trail can have clear weather for a week, but the day you want to fly in or out might be cloudy, and you don't get to fly. It might even be fine to take off, but if the plane can't land, then it can't pick up the new passengers to leave. They really need to upgrade the technology. I'd love to fly back to Trail during winter months to ski at Red Mountain, but I'm not booking time off, flights, etc. on the chance I might get to fly in.
Castlegar is better, but if there is fog, it's like landing in the bottom of a capuccino cup. There are mountains all around the Castelgar airport, so it's quite a dive into the airport, and climb out of it. It can be unnerving if you aren't a good flyer. We called the airline 'Scare BC' as kids. My curling team was at provincials in Nelson in 2015, and we flew from Vancouver to Castlegar. Our flight was one of 2 flights that got in on that route that week. We were lucky. In 2002 I flew from Calgary to Castlegar for my grandpa's funeral, but the flight couldn't land and we were turned around back to Calgary. When we went home we were flying out of Trail. The rest of the team went home early, and I stayed to ski. The plane couldn't land in Trail, so they chose to drive home, instead of waiting for two days. I left Monday morning, and it was clear, with no problems. In the summer both airports are fine. The only reason for cancelled flights is lack of passengers.
I went to Montrose Elementary from grades K-5, Beaver Valley Middle School in Fruitvale from 6-9, and J.L. Crowe Secondary School in Trail from 10-12. All three schools have been torn down. A new Crowe was built on the same plot of land, but the other schools were just shut down. It looks like if you live in Fruitvale, Beaver Falls, or Montrose, that you'd go to Fruitvale Elementary for K-7, and then to Crowe for 8-12. I'd recommend living in Trail, Sunningdale, or Glenmerry. It's tough as a kid to live in Fruitvale and go to school in Trail. The buses suck, and they don't run late at night, because it's a small town. I would curl in Trail in the men's league, and hitchhike home some nights if I couldn't find a ride.
With small towns, there isn't much you can do if you don't like your school. We had small classes, which is good, but my every class at Montrose from 1-6 was a split class, with two different grades in it. I was a gifted child, so they skipped me a grade, and could have skipped me more, but I was a runt at the time. In highschool I finished math 3 years early. If I was in a big city, I could have gone to a better school and/or had more programs that were better suited for me. I don't know anything about St. Michael's school, as it's the Catholic school, and non-religious people didn't go there when I was there. The students who came out of there and went to Crowe were the same as the rest of the feeder schools.
There are lots of people who came out of Trail, and did well for themselves. There are also lots of people who married someone from Crowe, had some kids, and will stay there their entire lives. Most of the guys work at Teck, and the women work at the hospital or the schools. I just went and looked at the Crowe teachers, and I know most of them, as I went to school with them in the 90s.
Since The Colander is the main restaurant in Trail, you better love it, or make sure you can cook.