I'm not a particularly outdoorsy person, but being a frugal person, I have noticed that a lot of outdoors activities really do "require" an investment. Equipment can be expensive, as can ski passes or trips. Once you hang out in those circles (as the article states), you don't want to have cheap gear. It's as with anything, I suppose, but with gear, there's always more and better things, which never interested me.

I remember talking with coworkers about bikes and one was recommend bikes to another coworker who wanted to get into cycling and he was recommending some pricey options. I remember thinking that if you want to get into cycling, you really don't have to spend a lot. Cycling shouldn't be about the gear itself. It should be about, well, getting out there and cycling. But for some people, half the fun is spending money on the toys. That same coworker admitted a few weeks later that he bought himself yet another bike, one that was several thousand dollars. Meanwhile I was stressing with my $1200 bike purchase as that felt like a lot of money.