Generally I find the most truly UL guys didn't spend much money and instead got creative, hardened up and lowered their needs. The UL gear industry is just like any other consumerist trap, no one forces you to open your wallet, it's optional, but UL itself is an ethos shared by ascetics, pragmatists, the destitute, the monastic, engineers who want to go further, faster and longer and carry more food and water.
>Thru hiker : spoon made from bark, ziplock baggie of oats, salvaged and chopped up gear.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkzggN8OBlE>Nimblewood Nomad - a very old UL hiker. Fast food joint spoon, $1 disposable poncho, simple nylon sack, gatorade bottlehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAx-PA_r0SAIt's not $$$, it's attitude and priorities. A monk with a robe bowl but a little more independent. Denigrating UL dudes with >muh $$$ sounds like deflection from fixin your learned helplessness