I did say it is anedoctal, but to make it more clear: this was not from just "a hill hike with friends". This is my experience from years hiking with these and other friends in the US, noticing their behavior (and those of other people in the same trails) on both the West and East coast, and contrasting it to the behavior seen in comparable trails outside of the US. After a while it starts feeling more like a common pattern, instead of an isolated thing.
Anecdotally I'd say that's true. The majority of the most active climbers and alpinists that I've been around don't seem to be overly goal oriented about it, though there definitely is a subset who are.
