Not sure where jayb is taking that (I'd suggest he might be pigeonholing a bit), but my point was it is remarkable how $25k is considered small potatoes for basic transportation. Think how much money that is in terms of basic, comfortable, day-to-day survival, even in a first-world country. It's amazing.
I'd consider anyone to be "pretty rich" who has the free time and energy on the weekends to traipse around the wilderness and scale vertical walls "just because". That's not a bad thing. If you have time and energy to climb, I'd say life is pretty good.