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In the main series games, cold locations like Ice Path, Shoal Cave, Frost Cavern, etc, where most of the games’ Ice types are found, are not accessible until pretty late in the game, usually after the 6th or 7th Gym. Is there a reason for this? Or just coincidence?

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Maybe ice is extremely rare in Japan.
This question already got answered, but you can still read this. https://www.smogon.com/articles/shafted-by-design

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I'd say this is because the game mechanics that come with ice locations are best left to the late-game -- or at least, the developers see it this way. Bearing in mind the young demographic playing Pokemon games, it is likely in their interest to leave the game's most complex overworld and battle mechanics to later in the game.

This might be explained best with some examples:

  • Many ice areas involve hail weather. This obscures the overworld, and introduces a battle mechanic young, new players may not grasp immediately. Introducing this later means it isn't lumped together with all the other technicalities of RPG games that young players will already be confronted with.

  • Some of the locations you mentioned are ice slide puzzles, which are tricky to navigate -- especially for young players. I remember Ice Path frustrated me as a kid: there'd be plenty willing to give up if it was at the start of the game, and weren't already used to how the overworld works in general.

  • Plenty of the ice areas in Pokemon are slow-moving and difficult to navigate: examples include Sinnoh Route 217 and Kalos Route 17. They're not a lot of fun, and the developers are probably aware. I believe these exist to add variety, which would be completely lost if it were placed at the beginning of the game.

In short, it's easier on new/ young players to give them grass routes and super-basic battles to start, instead of potentially alienating them with hard-to-grasp puzzles and layered gameplay from the getgo. RPGs always give you the basics to start and then work you into some different stuff -- Pokemon is no different.

It's easy for us to say ice areas are easy, but we're not the only ones playing these games. Contrast Pokemon with a hard RPG like Fire Emblem: they're clearly made with different audiences in mind, and their content is structured relatively.

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Your snow = slow quote does let me think about Mount Coronet.
That kid did really let me frustrate about the 'roars' deeper in the cave. I ended up lost there for like 2 hours T-T
Not saying this is a bad answer, but it leaves me wondering why ice Pokemon seem to be found only in ice areas, rather than being found in regular grass patches along with almost all other Pokemon. Psychic Pokemon aren't only found in "psychic areas", and dark Pokemon aren't only found in "dark areas".
Gamefreak most likely keeps in mind the biology of their Pokemon when deciding which Pokemon go in which areas. Most Ice-types have adapted to be able to thrive in primarily cold locations, and wouldn’t fare too well if placed in an environment they were not designed to live in. There was one episode of the XY anime where an Amaura was shown to be physically weakened when it was taken outside of the cold room the scientists were keeping it in. Psychic and Dark-type Pokemon don’t have this biological limitation, so they can be found in a variety of different areas.
They could have easily made ice Pokemon that don't have those "biological limitations". I guess I just hate how I can never get any ice Pokemon until very late in the game.