Wow! A very enlightening discussion.
I don't think the boy should be fined $25k for negligence, as he's a juvenile and they are not know for making rational decisions. The standard of what a reasonable adult would do doesn't compare.
However, when people intentionally go out of bounds in ski areas, or otherwise put themselves in jeopardy, they should accept that they will have to pay the bills if things go bad. Again, a gov't agency should not "fine" but the private SAR should "bill" for their services. Most SAR are volunteers, supported by donations and fund raisers, much different from fire departments which are supported by direct taxes. We pay for their services a little at a time, rather than all at once, even if we don't use their services. We do that because it's worth it to know they're there if we need them. Even rural volunteer FD's are funded by taxes on "fire districts".
Maybe a tax or "user fee" on users of a backcountry area could be imposed to fund SAR? NAH! We don't need no steekin taxes, nor bloated bureaocracy. The only alternative is to bill for service rendered to those who use them. If the users don't pay, the SAR volunteers have to. Is that fair? There ain't no free lunch.