Over the weekend, NMU student and professional snowboarder Ian Thorley dealt with the 70-degree West coast heat and took fifth in the esurance ICER AIR competition in San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

Fourteen snowboarders and 14 skiers from around the world competed in front of 32,000 fans in a big air competition that utilized a 100-foot high jump that was covered in 200 tons of man-made snow.

The first heat of the competition narrowed each group down to seven athletes, who were entered into the final round. Thorley placed fourth in his opening performance.

Travis Rice placed first in the snowboarding finals with a score of 95 and took home a $15,000 prize. Tim Humphreys (83) placed second and claimed $7,500. Chas Guldemond took third and received $3,750. All lower-placing riders took home $500.

In the skiing competition, Jon Olsson took first, while Simon Dumont placed second and Sammy Carlson came in third. The payouts were the same for the skiing competition.

Thorley lives most of the year in Marquette and heads to California for the winters.

Thorley, who rides for Atomic Snowboards, won the 2007 slope style competition at the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix. He also won the slope style competition of the 2005 Chevy Snowboard Evolution Tour.

The ICER AIR competition was hosted by Olympic gold medal skier Jonny Moseley.