Final moments of rock climber, 23, who died ‘making an attempt Wim Hof technique’

When Emily Smith bought her son a guide to the Wim Hof Method last summer, he quickly became hooked. 

She never imagined that just a few weeks later her only child Nova Xavier, 23, would be dead after reportedly trying out the book’s wellness theories.

Known as ‘The Iceman’, 65-year-old Hof has been met with widespread acclaim from health experts as well as celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Liam Hemsworth, Jack Dorsey and Oprah Winfrey. 

His bestselling book, The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential, is presented as ‘a way to keep your body and mind in its optimal natural state’ through exposure to sub-zero temperatures and breathwork. 

But Smith feels that for her son Nova, ‘it was pretty much a guaranteed death sentence’. His case is just one of at least 11 fatalities reportedly linked to the method, according to a Sunday Times investigation. A spokesperson for Wim Hof said the guide warns users not to hold their breath underwater for extended periods.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, licensed masseuse Smith, 51, bravely recalled her son’s final moments at her mother’s gated community pool in Kingwood, Houston, on July 17, 2023. 

Though she cannot bring herself to watch it, she also shared disturbing poolside footage of that fateful evening in the hopes of raising awareness about the risks attached to the technique. 

‘It was a very hot July afternoon,’ Smith told DailyMail.com, speaking from the home where she has since moved in Salem, Oregon. ‘I was the one that suggested that we go for a quick swim. 

‘We got there and it was just normal. Everything was just fine, there was nothing extraordinary about any of it.’

Nova suggested they both try Wim Hof’s breathing and water submersion method, which involves hyperventilating before dipping below the surface and holding your breath, she claimed. 

‘I was mimicking him. We did it about three times, coming up for air between each time,’ Smith said. 

‘I did ask him at one point: “Is this safe?” and he said something to the effect of: “Of course it’s safe mom – it’s Wim Hof”‘. 

At this point, Smith said she decided to start swimming laps while Nova continued practicing the exercises. 

‘I stopped to say a prayer at the deep end of the pool while looking up at the sky. It was a beautiful, serene night,’ Smith recalled. 

‘But the amount of time it took for me to say that prayer was when my son had passed out without my knowledge and sank to the bottom of the shallow end.

‘I looked back and I didn’t see him. I thought to myself, “he can’t possibly be holding his breath for that long”.

‘This horrible feeling came over me. I swam as fast as I could and I saw the silhouette of him under the water.’

With no-one else around and nightfall closing in, Smith had no choice but to haul her 6-foot-2-inch tall athlete son from the water by herself.  

‘I took a deep breath of air and dove in. I grabbed him and dragged him to the end of the shallow end where there were some steps,’ she said. 

‘It was extremely challenging. I scraped myself up pretty good. 

‘I breathed air into his lungs and was telling myself, “he’s going to be fine, he’s going to be fine”.

‘Then I just started screaming. I was like, “Nova, Nova, Nova!”‘

A neighbor heard Smith’s screams and came running to her aid with his young daughter in tow, as shown on the security footage. 

They called 911 and paramedics eventually arrived to take over the CPR, while attempting to revive Nova with epinephrine – an adrenaline medication. 

‘My son died quickly,’ Smith said. ‘In fact, when I retrieved him from the water I think he was already dead. It took under two minutes.  

‘I did not know that because of hyperventilating you can become hypoxic.

‘It’s not a regular drowning. With a regular drowning you have more time, but with this your brain is in an (oxygen) deficit already. 

‘It’s quick and it’s silent and he just passed out without his knowledge. It’s a pretty much guaranteed death sentence’. 

Smith said a coroner ruled Nova’s cause of death as drowning. 

‘He was such a strong swimmer, that’s the chiller,’ Smith told DailyMail.com. 

‘Nova was an avid rock climber, he only ate organic food. He only drank the best water. He bought a filtering machine that was a couple thousand dollars. 

‘My son was very health conscious. He did everything he could to improve his strength and stamina.’ 

Smith said her ‘kind and altruistic’ son Nova had gotten ‘very into Wim Hof and ‘watched all his YouTube videos’ in the months before he died. 

‘At the time I thought, oh this is a good thing, it seems very healthy when you listen to what he has to say,’ she said. 

‘But it’s super misleading and super dangerous, in my opinion.’

Wim Hof’s spokesman Erik Hof defended the guide, saying it comes with clear warnings not to hold your breath underwater for extended periods. 

He told DailyMail.com that week eight of the guide involves ‘a limited breath hold of up to 20 seconds in cold water’ and ‘not the extended breath holds Nova did’. 

‘We are deeply saddened by the tragic incident involving Nova Xavier, and our sympathies go to his family,’ Hof said. 

Smith said she is considering launching legal action against Hof in the hopes of ensuring no-one else endures the pain she has gone through. 

‘Under Texas law, I have until next July to launch a lawsuit,’ she told DailyMail.com.

‘But it’s so hard for me because I get sick a lot now, I have panic attacks, horrible nightmares. I’m plagued with trauma. I’m getting counselling and help.

‘I can’t work. If I had more money or resources to mobilize myself to bring him to legal justice I would. 

‘Coming up against the sharks, so to speak, it would destroy me. I know the Icemen have all the money and all the people.’

Another bereaved parent, Raphael Metzger, did launch legal action against Hof after his 17-year-old daughter Madelyn died practicing his technique in August 2022. 

Madelyn drowned in just a few inches of water in their family swimming pool in Long Beach, California, and a coroner ruled her cause of death as drowning. 

In his $67 million lawsuit, Metzger argued that Hof was negligent in promoting his technique and caused his daughter’s death by failing to sufficiently warn about the risk of drowning. 

Hof was ultimately cleared of liability in the case, after a judge found that it could not be proven that Madelyn was doing Hof’s exercises in the pool at the time and if that caused her to drown.

But her father’s lawyer said he planned to appeal the verdict, to prevent what he called a ‘threat to public health’. 

Smith’s name has been altered at her request in this story to protect her privacy. 

Hof has also come under intense scrutiny after his former partner, Caroline Hak, accused him of abusing her during their decade-long relationship, which ended in 2011. 

In an interview with a Dutch newspaper last week, she branded him a ‘mean drunk’ and ‘explosive character’. 

Most damaging were her claims that the wellness guru assaulted her while she was pregnant with their child and that, after they split, he was banned from seeing the boy because the Dutch Child Welfare Council found he’d caused him ‘psychological’ damage.

Hak, 65, also accused him of attacking her son from a previous marriage.

While Hof has admitted that this was not a healthy or happy period in his life, he denied her claims and categorically insisted he is ‘not a violent man’.

‘This is all very wrong,’ he told The Mail on Sunday this week in an exclusive interview alongside his four adult children from his first marriage, who are all standing by him. 

Speaking via video call from Queensland, Australia, where he lives with his partner Erin, Hof added: ‘I’m like a rock on the seashore. I stay strong because I’ve got my faith but this is too much.

‘I have a lot of mixed emotions about these false accusations. This is a character assassination.’