the vast majority of professional skiers could continue to compete with any number of the up and comers, as well as seasoned competitve park skiers if they chose to; however, it seems park just doesn't seem all that important to them.  Look at tanner, he still dominates pipe; look at candide, he won x games, or the open, i dont know which.  Both of them dedicate the majority of their seasons to the BC and/or filming.  I don't think its that skiers who chose to focus on BC and film segments are necessarily intimidated by fellow competitors, it's just that BC is soooo much more fun.  your ski season is no longer as repetitive as Tanner's pipe run that wins him so many contests.  Instead, it offers exciting variables and new challenges that park skiing cannot achieve.  I personally rode my snowmobile way more than park features this year, and know that i had a much more intersting and fun time this winter.
or something like that...