Well, you also need quickdraws and anchor gear if lead climbing outdoors, and this doesn't remotely start to touch on trad gear, but you can set yourself up nicely for climbing for about $500.

The person you replied to does not have anywhere near $14k of climbing gear unless they are into serious big-wall climbing that involves sleeping on the side of the wall, or else they run a rock climbing guide company.

Edit: Just saw they actually listed their kit out in another comment, which tracks closely with what I expected. They could probably replace all of it for under $5k.