Well I can't say I wasn't warned.
What a great bag the Austrian Alice is, solidly built, big, deep main compartment, two side pockets that can easily accommodate a 58PWB or mess tins with room to spare, ditto a front pocket with a SM Trangia and a couple of interesting external attachment points for things you may want to attach to the outside of the bag.
I am really happy with the bag
But, what a blood awkward carry it is. Whoever designed the harness/yoke should be taken out into the street and shot, in the foot to teach them a lesson.
I appreciate these bags were intended to be worn with webbing, but even with webbing, I imagine it would still be a bloody awkward carry.
Such a shame.
But not a total write off.
Before I was seduced by the Alice, I had already been nurturing a rather nebulous idea about pimping my carry, based around a home made version of the Kifaru platform frame, with various 'pods' for sleep gear, shelter, water, clothes, food, first aid, tools etc.. The introduction of the Alice into the equations removes the need for all of the pods, except for sleep gear, which would be situated at the base of the frame, in a dry bag, attached to and below the Alice which would provide a home for everything else.
I have the dry bag to house my sleep roll, I now have the Alice, I have a waist belt with kidney pad, I have shoulder straps and I have a couple of harnesses. So all I have to do is workout how best to put them all together, determine whether or not I need a frame and then make it happen... EASY
The only thing holding me back is I'm a lazy so and so with a habit of thinking of making something, umming and ahhing, then buying something like what I was thinking about making to save me the hassle.
But as I have devoted a fair bit of thought to this particular idea and have been piecing together the various component parts, over the the last couple of months, I have a feeling that this particular project (along with another to fashion a homemade sleeping bag expanda panel, to bags more tolerable) may actually make it beyond the procrastination stage and into production, mainly because the is very little product out there like what I have in mind and what little there is is bloody expensive. So if I want the bag I have in my head, I am going to have to make it myself. It won't happen overnight, but I reckon I could have the KS Carry System MK I, knocked up and ready for testing in a month or so.
Wish me luck.