I think John Sherman did the FA but then the loose block on the north face has since fallen off. That makes the starting moves of the traverse a bit harder. I'm not entirely sure if it's been sent since (it's probably been done). It's a damn fine problem.
F.A. Steve [Mammen]..... "Back in the day"; when Steve showed it to me; he started from the "Pinch" and traversed left to finish under the N overhang. The crux was getting past the "Standard" route and dropping down onto the incredibly sharp prickly rail that runs across the start of the "Fingerlock".
I enjoy working this from the other direction (into the pinch). Turning the corner from corner lock to standard is a real hoot. The final moves falling into the pinch hold and basically doing the pinch overhang after churning through all the previous moves makes this thing friggin' hard! Still a project I enjoy working.
How is the R-L way harder? Is the north face section more difficult? Seems like starting on the Pinch and moving left would be easier because it eliminates the crux of doing Pinch Overhang at the end of the traverse. I've tried the R-L version but only went as far as Standard before topping out. That version is awesome.