MONT VERNON – The state’s chief medical examiner said a Massachusetts hiker who slipped from an icy embankment on the top of Purgatory Falls on Sunday, and plunged into the frigid waterfall, died from drowning.

Dorie Goldman, 50, of Amherst, Mass., also suffered skull fractures and blunt force head trauma which were major contributing causes of her death, added Dr. Jennie Duval, the state’s assistant chief medical examiner, when citing the results of an autopsy.

Duval said Goldman likely was knocked unconscious when she fell. Her death was an accident, Duval said.

Goldman was an experienced winter hiker and wore spikes on her boots while hiking with a companion about 1 p.m., Jan. 25., according to authorities and those who knew her.

She slipped off the embankment and became immersed in the Upper Falls of Purgatory Brook, Mont Vernon Fire Chief Jay Wilson said Tuesday. He said Goldman was never trapped under the ice as previously stated.

The falls descend some 15 feet to a largely frozen pool at the base of the falls.

Rescue crews from areas towns responded to the incident, as did a Nashua dive team and New Hampshire Fish and Game, who assist with woodlands and water rescues.

Goldman owned Backyard Bakery in Amherst, Mass.

Authorities have not yet released the name of her hiking companion.

Trails around Upper Falls and parts of Purgatory Brook were closed Monday due to hazardous conditions.

The hiking trails around Purgatory Brook have been notably icy this month. A Jan. 19 posting to a Facebook group, called Mont Vernon Chatter, urged people to check out the falls, but added: ”Just be sure to wear microspikes or the equivalent; there are some pretty icy patches on the trails.”

But following Sunday’s accident Mont Vernon officials closed all hiking trails along the brook “due to hazardous icy conditions,” according to an advisory. It wasn’t immediately known whether the icy conditions contributed to the accident, or whether the victim was alone or hiking with others.

Several longtime local residents said the accident is the first fatal accident in memory associated with the several miles of hiking trails that run along the Upper Falls area of Purgatory Brook, which forms the border between Mont Vernon and Lyndeborough.

There are a number of additional trails near Lower Falls, which is in the Lyndeborough section of the brook, not far from the Milford line.

The trails, some of which date back more than a century, are a popular draw and have been improved in recent years by the local Conservation Commission.

Upper Falls is known historically as the most scenic of the several small waterfalls and rapids that exist on Purgatory Brook as it tumbles over about 4 miles from New Boston down to the Souhegan River in Milford, a vertical distance of more than 800 feet.

Kathryn Marchocki can be reached at 594-6589, kmarchocki@nashuatelegraph.com, or follow Marchocki on Twitter @Telegraph_KMar.