Excellent story telling, Ash!

Glad you can share all this adventure, this is a vicarious experience for the rest of us!

Do you have the front standard with adjustments? It would be great to report on this and also could you drop it on a scale so we can get an idea of the weight. After all a Canon 1DII with a 70-200 lens is not light either but I carry that for hours, LOL!

Asher