I just demoed a Levo, definitely motorized with a crank mounted throttle. I’ve ridden everything from duel sport motos to my 27lbs Intense Primer. They are all super fun in their element. You ARE CHEATING when you zip up the hill with an e-bike, do you hurt the trail more? Are you more dangerous! I don’t really think so...? Can you do big rides on consecutive days, actually enjoy a steepish trail with 3” of snow on it, definitely. Did you earn you ride with as much blood sweat and tears vs non motorized. Clearly less sweat but, blood and tears felt pretty close to me.
The real underlaying question is, who is getting cheated when a pedal assisted moto bike is on the trail? Riders getting passed who are working hard with purely their own energy trying to enjoy nature where moto is prohibited. That is a fair and unbiased answer.
I AM that pure human powered rider, and I love it but I do believe I could have even more fun riding snow and rough steep trail, especially ones above 11,000’MSL, with and e bike.
I’m willing to accept e-bikes, they are not infringing on the rights of others especially with limited areas of use kind of like snowmobles as a distant analogy. What I am NOT willing to accept is selfish pushy bikers/people of any kind that rip up trails with sloppy skidding/braking, dangerous speeds around others, or abrasive passing of other trail users of any type. Common curtesy will let us all have a blast together and I feel lucky to be able to use the vehicle of my choice to have cool new and different options for epic adventures. Generalizing a rider by his current vehicle, as long as is safe and nondestructive is a little childish and egocentric.