excuse me if I'm wrong, but so many snowboarders who have the best parts in the best videos (or at least good parts in good videos) make shit all because they don't compete very much. Many snowboarders make good money because they start their own companies, ie Nomis, Foursquare(I belive), Airblaster, or start filming crews like Sandbox(formerly skids), the wildcats, and so many other rider based companies. Now yes there are just as many riders who make enough money to comfortably live off of (chris dufficy, todd richards, shaun white, etc) , but there are so many who live in their parents homes, or share homes with friends, or couch surf until they get their next paycheck. So please don't tell me that the reason skiiers don't spend 8 months or any long length of time filming because they need to ride in contests to make money, that is a poor excuse.
(The same also applies with skateboarding, but I cannot give nearly as many or as effective examples)