Lest you think I've gotten too serious lately...

I rewatched all the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy for like the tenth time (thank you TNT) and now I'm wondering about how, if Gandalf is such a great, kick-ass, wizard, he doesn't do much actual wizarding. Oh, he occasionally makes some light come out of his staff, knows his shit, and pretty good with a sword but he doesn't actually do much in the way of magic. During all the travails that make up the books/movies, couldn't he do something like affect the weather? Like create a super-powerful wind to knock things over? Or maybe come up with some magic covering to fend off the snow? Or knock people over with some sort of magic spell or curse somebody or just do a little bit of something that actually help more than he's already helping. Couldn't he magically "beam" them out of some tough scrap or make them invisible? After all, you'd think that with him being a wizard, they could have gotten out of some of the scrapes they were in if he actually did some magic.

Althought I haven't seen much in the way of a debate online, but I'm pretty sure Gandalf would beat Dumbledore. Some guy named Gandalf will always beat somebody named Albud Dumbledore. But Dumbledore (and all the other wizards, actually) did things. Like curse people or stun people or change people from animal to human or vice versa or do spells and potions and maniuplate time. The wizards in "Harry Potter" even fly on brooms, appariate, and even shoot things out of their wands. Any number of things that actually helps people when they're stuck in a bit of a spot.

Why couldn't Gandalf do any of that?