1959 to today, in eight eras.
Every confirmed date from the research archive, from Sittard to Stroe.
1959–1978 — Origins
Born in Sittard
20 April 1959, Limburg; one of nine; twin brother André.
The teenager
Sitting in snow for hours; sleeping outdoors in winter.
Beatrixpark
The canal at seventeen.
1979–1994 — Family
Olaya
The Vondelpark rose garden.
Four children
Enahm, Isabelle, Laura, Michael.
Swims under ice
Rope on the ankle, hole in the lake.
1995–2006 — The cold as refuge
Olaya dies
Pamplona, 1995. Four children to raise.
Ice-cold rivers
Grief taken to the water.
First television
Ripley's Believe It or Not!; BBC Breakfast.
Under the ice
Fifty-seven and a half metres, Pello, Finland.
2007–2011 — Records and Radboud
Arctic half-marathon
Barefoot, 26 January 2007.
Everest in shorts
Halted by frostbite.
Kilimanjaro
Two days, February 2009.
Ice endurance
Tokyo 2010; New York 2011.
Radboud
The endotoxin case study.
Becoming the Iceman
With Justin Rosales.
2012–2016 — Method and Academy
The Academy
First certified instructors.
PNAS
Kox et al. — twelve volunteers, ten days.
The app
Launched as "Innerfire".
Innerfire B.V.
Incorporated 4 February 2015.
VICE, Rogan, Ferriss
The documentary and the two interviews that broke him worldwide.
Classic course; Academy international
The Ten-Week course; the Academy goes global.
2017–2020 — Global
What Doesn't Kill Us
Scott Carney's bestseller.
Brain Over Body
Wayne State, NeuroImage.
Trademark
EUIPO "Wim Hof Method" registered.
Fundamentals
The new flagship course.
The Wim Hof Method
The book; New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller.
Goop Lab
Netflix, "Cold Comfort".
2021–2024 — Institution and scrutiny
Freeze the Fear
BBC One, six episodes.
Biopic announced
Joseph Fiennes to star.
Null RCT
Ketelhut, Bern.
Systematic review
PLOS ONE: promising, low quality.
Allegations; biopic paused
de Volkskrant; Hof denies and litigates.
Yoga Ratna Award
Bengaluru, India.
2025–2026 — Science matures
App rebuilt
Renamed "Wim Hof Method: Breathwork".
Queensland
Four hundred and four participants, Scientific Reports.
Secrets of the Ice Women
Isabelle and Laura, HarperCollins.
Freedom: Into the Depth
The album with Tahir Burhan.
Slovakia MS
Sixty patients; cytokines reduced.
Sweden expeditions
April and December.
And the next fifty years.
The timeline continues to 2076 in the Archive.