OK,To aid your choice and everyone's adviceDo you want a certain wheels size?What is your budget?Are u averse to mail order?What the realistic use going to be ( will ever have to have to be pedalled up hil?)
I don't agree with u on carbon. They break more, they do. ( even the journos such as Dirtmag agree on this)
Despite being single pivots the linkages hug the ground, are more compliant and less neutral than Horst link bikes, and push u down the hill noticeably.
Sounds like you want a bike which is on the freeride side of XC for the UK which will also happily go down DH in the alps. I think it will be impossible to find 1 bike which will be good (to your standards) at both, so the big choice is which are you going to get 1st ;-)
I definitely reached the limit of where a bike like this could go in the alps. In fact, I often looked quite out of place as I was dropping in next to (and then overtaking) much bigger bikes. The remedy was set up 150mm rear and 160mm front. I definitely think my next bike needs to be minimum 160mm rear.
Having seen a vid of u jumping, and spoken to neil hart about your epic trips I'd say u are trying to find a rare bike indeed. The 170mm YT goat is going to be over budget, and heaven knows when they will be available.As for my linkages discussion, another time. But new damper characteristics with proper separate fast and slow rebound and compression and custom shims with progressive linkages have changed my riding. I think u need a bike park single crown 170 to 180 travel to noticeably see more stability in the alps. The superb enduro bikes will not give u what u personally seek. There are a few Kona operators about. Cheap. Then lighten / bling it. That would be within budget and do the job, apart from the XC rides. That's the problem, sacrifice the burl or have a mare XC. This advice is specific to you, as I know how capable u are at gravity riding, I'm not dissing the enduro style bike concept at all, but u wil b under under biked on an enduro, spicy orange 160, single crown canyon etc....The only light option I can see is the YT, and it's the hyped bike of the month,So no real user experiences. I'd go burl, with a bit of light bling as budget allows...
But new damper characteristics with proper separate fast and slow rebound and compression and custom shims with progressive linkages have changed my riding.
I think u need a bike park single crown 170 to 180 travel to noticeably see more stability in the alps.