Mass. rock climber doing OK after fall on NH cliff

NORTH CONWAY, N.H. -- A rock climber injured on New Hampshire's popular Cathedral Ledge is at home in Massachusetts resting.

Kevin Jones, the head of the Harvard Mountaineering Club, says 27-year-old Christopher Townsend walked out of the hospital in North Conway on Sunday afternoon and was resting at home in Cambridge, Mass., on Monday.

Jones says doctors made it clear Townsend's life was saved by his hiking helmet.

Townsend lost his footing and began sliding down the cliff during a climb Sunday. A Fish and Game officer says he caught a foot and flipped backward, cracking his helmet as it struck the rock.

The Mountain Rescue Service rescued him and took him to the hospital.

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