You are pretty much talking out of your ass as you don't know the folks from that generation...MaxD, JimP, and AndyD and the folks from that era were pretty competent as far as crackclimbing go...Those routes were bolted to preserve the free climbing nature of them......Numba10 is actually the start to mandala (the all bolted arete above)...
This is the problem with somebody who steps in and views a climbing area as a snapshot in time w/o a sense of the history of the area...and its even more ridiculuous when its a visitor...
You oughta tell your buddy to not run his piehole off soo much...it makes him and you look like tools....
Darryl Cramer can give a little more light on the history...
Regarding insane hard aid...well, if it can go free and its worth it, i don't see a problem with bolts...my opinion...yours are likely different...