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I must admit that I don't have any serious experience with ice, but my understanding is this:
Ice generally occurs in layers a few thousand feet thick. Either climbing or decending usually gets you out of it. Down lower it's warm enough to keep ice from freezing and up higher it's cold enough that the clouds are already frozen, so it doesn't stick to your wings.
However, going higher is generally better than going lower because you're giving yourself more room if it keeps accumulating. If you descend and can't get out of it, now you're down at the MEAs with a load of ice, so you don't have the performance to climb, and don't have the terrain clearance to descend. If you had climbed to begin with, but it kept accumulating, at least you'd have more time to turn around and more time to descend. Also, remember that the forecasts are just best estimates....obviously they got unforecast ice, so they couldn't really trust the forecast anymore.
I'm sure the freight pilots like EatSleepFly could give you a more experienced voice on this. How close did my answer get?
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Sounds good to me. Except I wouldn't say that going lower will necessarily be warm enough to keep you out of ice. This time of year, sure, but not in the winter. You'll get ice on the ground in the winter. It's almost always better to climb as high as you can, basically for all the reasons you said. Plus, in the Caravan, it doesn't shed ice all that great unless you're doing above 160 kts., which if you have ice can only be done in a descent, really. So going high gives you the opportunity to blow it off good once or twice as you're descending. Although, latest "procedure" for the 'Van is to blow the boots once they have any accumulation of ice. Not sure how much I agree with that, but whoever came up with that has more experience than me, I'm sure.
Icing is difficult to predict/forecast. I've gotten none where I thought I'd get loaded, and I've turned into a popsicle where I didn't think it'd be so bad.
Here's to hoping I will be out of the 'Van and hauling boxes in something else before icing season gets into full swing.