Not taking a trowel means you have to be super committed to spending the time to dig a proper cat hole. Perhaps this is "too much information", but you can dig the hole either before or after the fact, so not feel rushed. And then NEVER put in toilet paper- bag it and carry it out. A lot of people prefer to ease this task with a trowel.

With all your light and somewhat expensive gear, why the cheaper tent? There are better and lighter tents out there but they do cost more.

My goal is for my pack to be comfortable for my average day which is 5-6 hours of travel. So do you want to lighten the pack to do longer trips, walk more hours, or what? When you figure out why you want to lighten the pack it is easier to determine if the extra $$$ is worth the weight savings and what items are really needed. I could go lighter, but am fairly happy with what I now have. Perhaps in a few more years, getting older, I will be willing to shell out more money to go a pound lighter. We can get a bit too much obsessed with weight reduction. The best weight reduction is to reduce your belly fat and not carry that around.

Just noticed that you have a 15 oz frameless pack. For me the weight you are talking about would be too heavy for comfort.