I would not put this past him. Vin talks about it once. She says that if she had been the Lord Ruler, she would have hid the Well... placing mountains in valley and flattening the mountains. So it could be the case. But I do not think it is a simple trap. It did not seem such a big thing for Vin to free the power once she was at the Well. If he did it, and I think that it might have happen, it was only to hide the Well itself. He truly made it hard to find with this secret entrance that only him knew and had the strength to open (beside Vin, of course).
It would also give him another reason to destroy his own people. After all, if it was in the Terris mountain, these people would have known of the transformation. Erase their memory and the makeover is really done. Send them in other mountains, more in the North, let circulate the information that the Terris people lived in mountains and who would know the difference ?
It's the people of TLR's country that believe they live at the poles. Isn't it Sazed that tells us of this ? I first thought of a change in inclination because there are a lot of people and you just cannot change the weather and everything else, without deep change, and lots of death due to that change. You just cant move so many people in the short time it took for the transformation to take place. Also, as you say Darxbane, there is not much change in temperature at the poles. It is always cold, always under zero. So, how could you explain that they sweat in summer and freeze in winter ? Of course, there are the Ashmounts, and of course, it would raise the temperature, but this does not explain how they can have snow in winter. So, instead of changing the inclination, after erasing the Terris's memories (i.e. feruchemist in general), he could have simply pretend that people lived at poles. Who would doubt his word ?