sounds like you have plenty of experience to know what you want to try & the ability to make it happen! very cool! I was torturing hybrids w/ rigid forks on bad terrain & was glad to move on to a legit MTB w/ bigger tires & a suspension fork (albeit a cheap one). last year I mounted studded tires on the MTB too early so I'm holding off longer this year hoping to get more rides in with it before the long lasting snow pack arrives. hence I mounted up some studs on one of my hybrids so it's torture continues. lately some of the trails have been quite bumpy w/ frozen footprints & I miss that MTB fork!
good luck & have fun! keep sharing!