I learned from the Cerax days that you're pretty much going it alone
when you pick an unpopular wax. If you use a name brand wax, then you
can talk to others about the selection. So you have conversations like,
"Do you think it's an LF4 or LF5 day? cover it or leave it." That way
you keep bringing in others experience with the type of snow crystal
vs. the wax hardness and fluoro level.

Then it comes down to how much you trust the person you're talking
with. When Eli brown says "We've had a lot of good races in this type
of snow on LF6 covered with FC1," that means quite a bit. Or maybe you
get a direct tip on actual glide testing the day before the race or
others have done workouts on a particular wax. At least you know where
the snow is starting on the way to race day.

Doing testing yourself (I've done it) takes a lot of energy. Also, in
MPLS, we're hardly had any new cold snow this year, but the Pepsi,
Mora, and the Birkie were all cold snow races this year. (BTW, LF5 for
the first two, and that probably would have been a good call at the
Birkie too. I had a pair with that, but it was a fairly recent grind
and not gliding as well as other pairs.)

Jay W