More than two years after the disappearance of Canadian bushwalker Prabhdeep Srawn, a coroner is set to rule on his suspected death in an inquest ending on Thursday.
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Mr Srawn, a 25-year-old Bond University student and Canadian army reservist, went missing in the Kosciuszko National Park in May 2013.
He disappeared after parking a rental car in the Charlotte Pass Village, sparking weeks of land and air searches around Australia's two highest peaks, Mount Kosciuszko and Mount Townsend.
Mr Srawn's family have not travelled to Australia for the three-day inquest at the Cooma Court House, which this week heard evidence from his friend and former housemate Carl Mannix.
Mr Mannix said the law student was unlikely to undertake risky behaviour and could be expected to have thoroughly planned for the hike.
He said Mr Srawn did not usually speak to friends and fellow students every day but that it was out of character for him to disappear for any long period of time.
Mr Mannix said his friend was not particularly interested in the outdoors, but was prepared for the environment because his military training.
He told the hearing Mr Srawn was happy and would not have set out to hurt himself.
On Wednesday, the court heard the weather deterioriated in the area in which Mr Srawn was hiking and it was likely that he faced heavy winds and snow with only a few metres of visibility.
Another hiker said he saw footprints in the area, but they were quickly covered by snow.
Speaking from Canada, family spokeswoman Ruby Singh-Sahota said Mr Srawn's sister Mandeep Srawn had chosen not to travel to Australia for the hearings which began on Tuesday.
"We heard about the inquest only this last week after a subpoena and insensitive message was received via email by Mandeep," Ms Singh-Sahota said.
"She felt the trip on such short notice was going to be too much for her to handle emotionally. In addition the trip would be quite costly and the family is still trying to recover from the financial burden of the private searches."
"Mandeep asked about the type of questions she would be asked and if she could summit a response in writing but there was no response to her request."
As part of a search begining about a week after he was last seen, police investigators and Ms Srawn found a laptop computer in the rental car. The computer's search history revealed Mr Srawn's likely route towards Mount Townsend, north-west of Mount Kosciuszko and a short distance off the Main Range walk.
After his disappearance, Mr Srawn's family spent more than $100,000 to bring a four-man Canadian search and rescue team to the area, assisted by local volunteers. They spent weeks helping with the ground search.
The family offered a reward for anyone who helped find Mr Srawn, before withdrawing it on the advice of Australian authorities. Family members and Canadian politicians lobbied the Australian government to send Australian Defence Force personel to the area.
It has remained unclear what supplies Mr Srawn had for a trek that is usually completed within a day. He set out in fine, mild conditions but is thought to have been exposed as a cold front and blizzard hit the area, dumping at least 30 centimetres of snow and covering paths.
Mr Srawn was understood to be travelling by road to Melbourne at the time of his disappearance.
New South Wales Police and the State Emergency Service co-ordinated an air and land search for two weeks, before calling it off on June 1, 2013.
After criticising the decision, Mr Srawn's family began a privately funded search, using local volunteers, trained searchers and the Australian Swiss Search Dog Association.
