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Get yourself a narrow/wide ring along with a clutched derailleur and you’ll be fine. I also did a ghetto 2×10 conversion from my 3×9, I replaced the middle ring with a N/W 32t, pulled the front derailleur and left the small ring (24t?). I rarely used the small ring but I could reach down and drop it on the small ring if I knew I’d be making a long climb. Once you’re to the fun part just slap the chain back on the N/W ring and you’re good to go. Ghetto but works and you get to keep the granny low.
At first I was running 1×9 with the x5 non-clutched derailleur and dropped the chain occasionally but never had an issue with the x9 clutched. I’ve taken my hardtail down stuff no hardtail belongs on and the only issues I had were operator error shifting when I knew better.