HE may have just conquered the most dangerous part of his challenge, but now Richard Parks is facing a new obstacle in his fundraising feat.

The former Newport Gwent Dragons star summited Mount Everest on Wednesday morning and has spent the past two days climbing back down again, but the celebrations turned to frustration when he found he has frostbite on his right big toe.

Mr Parks said: "I had no indication I had frostbite on summit day. In fact I thought I'd bruised my toenail on the front of my boot on the down climb, but on arriving back in base camp and visiting the medical centre, I've just found out that I have frostbite in my right big toe. I did everything right and didn't make any mistakes, it's a case of circulation and hypoxia at 8,950m. Nevertheless, it's serious."

The next stage of the challenge was due to be in Alaska scaling Denali, but now Mr Parks said the chances of completing the next feat and of losing his big toe are both 50/50.

He said: "I will do everything I can to get through it. I'm shellshocked, gutted and angry."

Mr Parks and the 737 Challenge team are now waiting until he is flown back to Kathmandu at sea level to see if his toe can recover and the challenge can continue.