Promising young skier, 26, mysteriously drowns in California hot tub

A promising young championship skier mysteriously drowned in a California hot tub, leaving his stunned family searching for answers about his bizarre death.

Holden Parazette, 26, of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, died July 9 in Huntington Beach, California, where the circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation.

His parents, Andy and Danielle Parazette, revealed that their son drowned in a hot tub and said drugs and alcohol did not play a role. The local coroner's office has confirmed that its investigation remains ongoing.

Parazette had spent much of his life on the slopes, joining the Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club at just 6 years old and eventually developing into an elite racer.

After graduating from high school in 2018, he won the U19 giant slalom championship race at the Junior Nationals the following year. He went on to ski at Middlebury College in Vermont, graduating with a degree in physics in February 2024.

Parazette then attended the University of Utah, where he pursued a master's degree in mechanical engineering and worked with the university's ski team.

The Utah Ski Team remembered him for his "unforgettable laugh" and his ability to keep things in perspective.

"Once a Ute, always a Ute," the team wrote in a tribute.

Behind his athletic and academic accomplishments was a hardworking young man who had been deeply connected to his family's Jackson Hole community since he was a baby.

Even after becoming a championship skier, Parazette remained remarkably unfazed by his own success.

"At the end of the day, it's about having fun and doing what you like," he told the Jackson Hole News & Guide after his 2019 Junior Nationals victory. "And it seems pretty cliche, but for me, it's just that I'm skiing."

His family described him as an intellectual introvert who was intensely curious, comfortable in his own skin and constantly challenged those around him to consider another point of view.

"Holden was a deep thinker, and for a young man, all the things that he did and experienced, he was definitely comfortable with himself," his mother, Danielle, said. "He was not your typical teenager."

After graduating from Middlebury, Parazette traveled around the world but remained especially close to his brothers.

When his brother Noah left for college, Parazette sent him a note offering some characteristically brotherly advice: "You're the man. Keep making good friends and calculated bad decisions. Don't forget to have fun at college, and I'm always a phone call away."

"He was Holden, no matter what," Noah told the News & Guide. "He wouldn't change, but he would also try to form a connection with every single person he met."

For now, exactly how a healthy 26-year-old athlete came to drown in a Huntington Beach hot tub remains unanswered, with his family awaiting the results of the continuing investigation.