The hardest piece of gear that BLU has to get is an Epona's Ring, and even that is duoable with laughable difficulty. Almace can be done in 4-5 days or less. There's no excuse besides laziness and non-willingness to gear their job appropriately or lack of understanding as to how. This = lack of skill by definition.
Think it's actually relative to circumstance. I myself have both Almace and Epona's Ring and yet still haven't completed +2 Bazubands.

However, I think you're both going the wrong direction with your definition's of skill in that you're basing it upon a person's effort rather than knowledge.