When I started climbing in Boulder in '67 you could go to Eldorado on a Sunday and see more fishermen than climbers.
Ivy Baldwin's high wire still stretched from the Bastille to the Wind Tower. That first year we still climbed with hammer and pitons but soon switched to home-made stoppers. We had no harnesses or belay devices and had to order climbing shoes from an importer in New York. I was a hard-core trad climber, based out of Devil's Lake, Wisconsin, until 1989 when I discovered Mexican limestone--now I'll place a bolt next to a crack (on limestone) no problem!
I've survived cancer and a heart attack--while leading the fourth pitch of a route on the Outrage Wall! I've been bit by a shark, a lion and a pit bull--the dog was the worst!
After living at the Potrero Chico full-time for more than 12 years my wife and I bought a house in Wisconsin where we now spend a few months each summer trad climbing on the fabulous quartzite and sandstone.