My next bike?

I really like my hardtail, but on some rides I have been wishing for a little more suspension and slacker angles, without going full enduro. A few weeks ago we did a really huge ride up two mountains (sheep and mineral) over some very rough terrain and on the descents I was basically just trying to survive. Once they got to the top, the people on the big bikes were bombing down and having a blast, but the two of us on xc hardtails spent a lot of time waiting on the climbs. I think the right bike is something in between, so I've been checking out the full suspension XC rides like the Cannondale Scalpel and Orbea OIZ. I'm basically limited to Kona, Cannondale, and Orbea bikes if I want a discount, and the old Kona hei hei is pretty goofy looking so I had ruled that out.

This year, Kona came out with a new Hei Hei:

The Cycling House Hell Ride Series

Sometime last year, or maybe before that, the guys at TCH had an idea to do a really hard one day ride on mixed surfaces. Kind of like speedwagon, or rocky mountain roubaix, but bigger.  What they came up with was 126mi with 46 on dirt and 8100 vertical feet. starting in Hamilton, MT, climbing over Skalkaho pass, doing the state championship road race course past Phillipsburg, and then back over the pass.