Wim Hof

Wim Hof (born 20 April 1959), also known as The Iceman, is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand low temperatures.

He previously held a Guinness World Record for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice, and he holds a record for a barefoot half marathon on ice and snow.

He attributes these feats to his Wim Hof Method (WHM), a combination of frequent cold exposure, breathing techniques and meditation.

Hof's method has been the subject of several scientific studies, with mixed results.

Wim Hof was born on April 20 1959 in Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands.

He was one of nine children.

Hof met his first wife Marivelle-Maria, also called "Olaya Rosino Fernandez", in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam in the garden of roses.

She died by suicide in 1995 by jumping from an eight-story building.

According to Hof, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

He had a hard time psychologically with that incident and the freezing water was the only place he didn't think about it.

Wim Hof’s first relevant experiences with the cold goes back to when he was 17: he felt a sudden urge to jump into the freezing cold water of the Beatrixpark canal.

On 16 March 2000, Hof set the Guinness World Record for farthest swim under ice on his second attempt, with a distance of 57.5 m. Hof's first attempt the day before failed when he began his swim without goggles and his corneas froze solid and blinded him.

A rescue diver pulled him to the surface after he passed out.

The record has been broken several times since and now stands at 265 ft as of 2022.

The fastest half-marathon run while barefoot on ice or snow is 2 hr 16 min 34 sec by Hof near Oulu, Finland, on 26 January 2007.

Done for the Discovery Channel program Real Super-humans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic, this is the only current Guinness record in Hof's name.

In 2007, Hof climbed to an altitude of 7400 m on Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts and shoes, but aborted the attempt due to a recurring foot injury.

He managed to climb from base camp to about 6700 m wearing just shorts and sandals, but after that he wore boots, saying he needed to affix crampons at that point.

Hof has set the world record for longest time in direct, full-body contact with ice, 44 minutes in January 2010.

Hof's record has been broken several times and as of 2021 it stands at 3 hours, 28 seconds.

The first relevant scientific investigation began in 2011 at Radboud University.

On 19 April 2011, the results of this study were broadcast on Dutch national television.

Hof markets a regimen called the Wim Hof Method (WHM), which involves willpower, exposure to cold water, and breathing techniques.

While Hof claims his method has beneficial effects on various conditions, there is little scientific basis for these claims.

Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, a scientist who has studied Hof, said: "[Hof's] scientific vocabulary is galimatias. With conviction, he mixes in a non-sensical way scientific terms as irrefutable evidence."

Wim's identical twin brother Andre has a similar tolerance for cold, despite living a different lifestyle, suggesting that much if not all of Hof's abilities are innate.

As of March 2024 there are 32 reports of people dying in relation to the Wim Hof Method.

Four practitioners drowned in 2015 and 2016, and relatives suspected the breathing exercises were to blame.

In 2021, a Singaporean man drowned in a condominium pool when attempting the method.

A $67 million lawsuit was filed against Innerfire and Wim Hof in 2022 that alleged 17-year old Madelyn Rose Metzger died after performing the Wim Hof Method in her pool in Long Beach California.

The plaintiff is seeking an injunction against Hof and Innerfire teaching the method in the United States again.

The trial date is set for January 2024.

At least three people drowned in the summer of 2023 with their family citing Wim Hof breathing as the cause.

At least one person has died after cold-water immersion.

According to Innerfire, in March 2024 a 65-year old woman died on the "Winter Travels" expedition in Poland while Hof was leading the group.

The leading cause of death with Wim Hof Method-related activities seems to be shallow water blackout where practitioners hyperventilate in or around water and unexpectedly lose consciousness.

Wim Hof has claimed to have attained 26 world records, but he has held only three different records.

The higher numbers that are reported can be attributed mainly to breaking the record Full-body contact with ice 15 times, often by beating his own previous record.

In 2016, Hof reached Gilman's Point on Mount Kilimanjaro with journalist Scott Carney in 28 hours, an event later documented in the book What Doesn't Kill Us.

A number of documentary films have been made on the life and teachings of Wim Hof.