Originally Posted by Attilio

I honestly don't see it because there is no difference between DH or XC: both require a significant travel and expenditure which becomes the limiting factor for skiing. The closest place to ski for most people is VERY far and requires a hefty expense including lodging whereas anyone can take a fat bike and start riding it from their house any day of the week. Unless you live very close to a ski resort which only reduces but doesn't eliminate the very high ongoing costs of the sport this won't be true with skiing although the fees for XC are much lower and the resorts tend to be far more lax/liberal with enforcement of the time allotted on the XC trails. But very few of the population lives close enough to a ski resort to make it as convenient (and affordable) as just riding your bike out of your house.

I used to be into auto racing that was another money pit not even counting the fact that nothing good (or cheap) will happen to your car. Same difference. You have to drive a long ways and bring your car to the track, find overpriced lodging (local hotels know and charge accordingly), food. You spend the whole day getting exhausted for at best ~90-120 minutes on track tops on a given day or event. It didn't last long as I came to my senses and I started seeing how much I was spending both time and money wise vs the limited enjoyment I was getting.