Is Legolas afraid to get his nails dirty?

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I've started to reread the trilogy in English for the first time in a while and one thing I noticed is that Legolas never seems to break a sweat. When there is hard work to be done Boromir always proclaims how lucky the company is to have strong men like himself around and he is quite right. In the snow of Caradhras it is he and Aragorn who clear a way through the snow and carry the hobbits across it. Later, at the rapids of Sarn Gebir, the two strong men alone carry the three boats up to the portage-way.

What, couldn't Legolas lend a hand now and then? Perhaps Gandalf is spared from a lot of back-breaking labour posing as an old man while Gimli lacks the height required for the above tasks, but what excuse does Legolas have? Is he worried about his hair-do? Or does he simply lack the strenght and endurance for hard labour?

And a more general question: Are men of the high race more physically imposing than Elves, particulary the Moriquendi? The examples of Turin and Tuor seem to imply this, although they undoubtedly were exceptional individuals.

What do you think?

[Galin]

Tolkien once described Legolas (this quote can be found reproduced in The Book of Lost Tales) when reacting to an artist's depiction of his character...

'He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgûl, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock and through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship.' JRRT

I think this can be found in part II, IIRC.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

What, couldn't Legolas lend a hand now and then?

Good point. In the retreat from Caradhras couldn't he have
helped clear the snow and carry a hobbit?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

Good point. In the retreat from Caradhras couldn't he have
helped clear the snow and carry a hobbit?

*The Dark Elf rolls his eyes*

Grunt work? Pffft! We leave such menial toil for men (whom an Elf of Imladris once likened to sheep), or to dwarves (when their short stature proves indispensible, like stooping over smithies to craft armor, or getting cobwebs out from under tables). We elves devote immense amounts of energy to philosophical pursuits and the arts, without which the free folk would suffer the darkness of ignorance (as well as a pronounced dearth of fashion sense).

However, during battle we can be counted on to save our allies from any danger (we did, after all, turn the tide at Helms Deep). Now, would you be so kind as to hand me a quiver of arrows. There are flying Nazgul that need to be shot down.

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Yeah, that's the impression I've got as well. The Elves are a just a bit too lofty to showel the manure so to speak.

[bilbo_baggins]

In fact, I've often wondered: did Elves even produce something as filthy as manure? They do eat food (lembas bread for instance), but then again, they are the Eldar, and could such lofty and wondrous creatures actually be associated with excrement?

Even though the description above states that Legolas was wondrously strong, it seems that in the stories, the Elves only use this strength to fight baddies, like Feanor and Fingolfin in the Sil. When does it say that the Elves used their strength in any purely physical, he-man (he-elf?), stone-lifting contest of strength?