BREAKING the ICE

Hiking through snow in bikinis and swimming in icy rivers are all part of a wellness craze known as the Wim Hof Method. But does the Hof live up to the hype? Courtney Thompson takes the plunge to find out

- Thompson

Looking to my left, the mountain drops steeply into a fog of nothingness. In sub-zero temperatures, I’m crouched down, dressed in nothing but bike shorts and a singlet. I feel paralyzed with fear, and it dawns on me that this is the moment I might die. What the hell am I doing and how did I get here? It’s all thanks to a man named Hof (no, not that one).

Wim Hof, also known as “The Iceman”, is something of a human marvel. After losing his wife to suicide in 1995 and becoming a single father of four, the Dutchman began swimming in ice water and meditating in the snow as a coping mechanism, which evolved into a full-blown phenomenon. Breathwork, cold exposure, and commitment form the three pillars of the practice he’s subsequently founded, the Wim Hof Method, which now counts celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jim Carrey as fans.

He’s broken more world records than I have words to list, went temporarily blind swimming under a frozen lake (he set a record of 57 metres), and ran a half-marathon in the Arctic. Barefoot. He’s a creature of fascination for scientists, who in one notorious study injected him with an E Coli endotoxin, which would ordinarily cause sickness, but Wim showed no symptoms of illness. And perhaps most outrageous of all: he claims anyone can do what he does. “People need to wake up to their own power,” he told The Guardian. “Everybody has this nature.”

Apparently that includes me, a journalist lured to the retreat by an editor who saw images of people jumping into ice water and knew there was a story in it. I clocked the word “retreat” and thought, “Sure, how bad can it be?” ...