“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
Born
Jokke Sommer was born in the summer of the year 1986, in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
As a little kid, Jokke was always restless and fascinated with speed, the sky, and heights.
Early history
As a little boy, his father put Jokke on alpine skis almost before the kid could walk.
He enjoyed it so much that he became quite good in a short time.
After a while Jokke switched to snowboarding thrilled to be in the air more and do bigger jumps.
As a child, all his activities had something to do with the art of flight.
Jokke Sommer has been always fascinated by flying and he dreamed that one day he will be able to fly himself.
His childhood dream faded away for a while when he matured, and Jokke started instead a career in Motocross, which became an important part of his youth and his biggest passion.
After he participated in several motorcycle races he built his own FMX park in his backyard and started to Freestyle.
As a teenager, Jokke has enjoyed motocross in his freestyle park. He and his friends performed stunts and were literally flying in the air on their motor bikes. His dream of real flight was put on hold for a while and he just focused on pursuing motocross seriously.
Later on he remembered his childhood dream and started to fly with a special suit.
From his professional career as a motocross rider, kindergarten teacher, snowboard instructor, and graphic designer he became famous as a superhuman “birdman”, a wingsuit flyer.
One of his motivations was watching viral YouTube videos with people using wingsuits, which reminded him of his dream of becoming one of them.
When Sommer started to get involved in wingsuit flights it was a golden age for wingsuit flying.
At that time not many people were participating in that extreme sport, many did not even know anything about wingsuit flying.
When Jokke Sommer uploaded his GoPro footage on YouTube, being several thousand miles away from his home in Norway, he just hoped his friends and family back home will see them.
However, the videos have become one highly popular and he is know as one of the world’s most prolific wingsuit flyers, a king of the sky.
What Is His Super Power?
The wingsuit makes Jokke a superhuman “birdman”, able to perform amazing stunts in the air.
In the year 2007, when Sommer received a call from Jorgen Eriksten, his close friend, they went together to get a skydive license.
He sold his dirt bikes in order to fund his course in Oslo.
In the year 2008, Jokke Sommer traveled to California in order to complete 250 skydiving jumps.
Shortly after, he returned to Norway and signed up for a BASE course. Later on, Jokke tried his first wingsuit and since that day was no turn back from his greatest passion, flying, and what he always wanted to do in his life.
Among his adventures in the sky is included a surreal flight off Tianmen mountain in China.
The highest jump of his life was when he stepped off Aguille du Midi from the height of 3,842 meters, on the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps.
He jumped from the edge of the mountain for over 3000 meters vertical drop to the streets of Chamonix. The death-fall turned into a glide, when he started the fly forward at 200 kmph.
What can we learn from him?
Jokke Sommer is a model of temerity and courage.
We all can learn from him about overpassing the limits of our human condition.
Flying and taking risks has become Sommer’s second nature. He is admired by millions of fans who are following his videos on YouTube.
Due to advances in technology and new wingsuit prototypes coming on the market, the extreme sport of wingsuit flying is growing in popularity among the youth eager to develop their skills to fly and enjoy the adrenaline thrills.
We reached out to Jokke with a couple of questions.
Jokke - If our website visitors could learn one thing from you, in regards to everything you have found out yourself over your lifetime, what would you tell them?
Step outside your comfort zone and go chase your dreams! You got nothing to loose by trying… If you don`t succeed on the first, move on to the next dream and keep doing until you succeed. If you never try, all those dreams will die with you when your time has come.
Do you think anyone can do what you do with the right training and background? Or does it require a special combination of courage, reflexes and technique that most humans do not possess?
Everyone can learn this sport, but it does require a strong mind were you can turn fear into super focus.
What is he currently doing
Jokke Sommer considers himself not even close to being fully trained or adept at the art of wing suit flight.
He thinks modestly that will still take another 10-20 years. Currently he keeps training and participating in exciting sky adventures, such as his jump from a helicopter over Switzerland.
Apart from his passion in wingsuit flying, as every young man, Jokke has an interest in girls and partying.
He is a multi-talented guy, as a snowboard instructor, graphic designer, BASE jumper, wingsuit flyer, motocross rider, and kindergarten teacher.
More recently, he is also involved in a new project where he teaches pro surfer Nicola Porcella how to fly and the surfer teaches him how to surf. The story about their exchange of skills will air soon on TV under the name of “Lift-Off”.
Links and Video
You can learn more about the superhuman “birdman” Jokke Sommer on his personal website www.jokkesommer.com, on his Facebook Page, and on his Youtube channel.
