Most of my riding is DH based and I find the Alpine to be better at DH style jumps than a 14" jump bike. It was bought to reduce my three bikes to two.
Demo 8, .twofourthree sl and on-one 456. I still have the Demo, but the Alpine does pretty much what the other two did with. Lighter and more forgiving than the .243, more jumpable and bomproof than the .243. My 456 (18") had a silly long seat post on it too.
The Alpine is a bit of a compromise, but it has been able to lend itself to pretty much any type of riding. It's doubtful I will change it any time soon. Being around 15 stone (but still lean) I would always err on the side of strength over lightness, well within reason.