It has been a year of tributes for the family of former Canberra soldier Paul McKay, who died near the summit of a US mountain after last being seen alive on New Year's Eve 2013.
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Captain McKay's mother Angela said there had been memorials far and wide for their 31-year-old son, with their own pilgrimage made in June.
"Exactly six months after Paul climbed Scarface Mountain, we took him back there," she said.
"We had no idea why he had chosen that place to be his final resting place on earth but we wanted to honour his wishes.
"We scattered his ashes at the exact location where he had been found."
Captain McKay's body was found on a rocky outcrop not far from a mountain trail in upstate New York on January 15, after a two-week search in the freezing American winter.
An autopsy found the young soldier, on annual leave from the army, died of an irregular heartbeat due to hypothermia, with a coroner ruling the death a suicide.
As the family marked their first Christmas without him at their Adelaide home this week, Mrs McKay pointed to a year of tributes.
"We try to focus on positives and in April the Eastlake Football Club had a fund raiser game for [returned soldier support group] Soldier On against ADFA," she said.
"They are now hoping to make this an annual event.
"In August one of the members of 1 RAR (Paul's former regiment) ran the Townsville marathon wearing 10 kgs of body armour … in memory of Paul and to raise funds for Soldier On.
"The final total was over $9000 which was an outstanding effort."
In early November Mrs McKay organised a concert in St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide, where her son's funeral was held in February, and raised another $3042 for Soldier On.
"[Musician] Paul Bourke flew in from Melbourne for the weekend to sing a song Scarface Mountain which he composed in memory of Paul," Mrs McKay said.
Popular Australian country singer Beccy Cole sang at the event, and Mrs McKay said Ms Cole had now written a song called Broken Soldiers which she was dedicating to Paul and hoped to have released around Anzac day.
One of Captain McKay's army friends is also set to retrace the exact route Captain McKay took on New Year's Eve 2013 and climb Scarface Mountain, with plans to toast his lost mate with his favourite drink, Chivas Regal.
"Paul would appreciate that!" Mrs McKay said.
A plaque in Captain McKay's memory was unveiled in the Garden of Remembrance in Woden public ceremony in September.
Captain McKay was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after a 10-month tour of Afghanistan when he made his first trip to the US last December.
The family's last communication with Captain McKay was an email sent on December 30, where he left his father all his possessions.
