The 6 ft of down climbing was probably harder than anything on the Spiral Route. Also, there was loose rock, so holds might break. Although the rest of the approach is 4th class or easier, I would say it is a good idea to rope up for this if you are going to rope up for any part of the climb....

Reversing the descent after climbing the southeast face, we found it very reasonable to continue up the ridge and then downclimb a gully directly above the start of the route line shown here. This gully begins right around the point where the blue line intersects the cliff, and it diagonals slightly right to reach the ridge. From there, you'd climb down the ridge, sometimes on the east face, to reach the notch. The way we went, this was all 4th class.