You post gives me some warm memories. My first climbing rope cost all of $20 - even then that was fairly cheap. Pitons were a dollar or less, carabiners were two bucks, and I considered climbing and backpacking fairly inexpensive pursuits.

One consolation for the higher gear of today is that it is considerably more effective. Those Star War thingies provide much more solid protection than the pitons of yesterday. They can be installed and removed more rapidly, with less damage to the rock. I will bet your daughter climbs at a level of difficulty that didn't even exist back when - that would be anything over 5.9, maybe 5.10, on today's scale - which is essentially just where things are beginning to get challenging for today's young lions.