RICHARD Parks today told of the "fantastic feeling and a massive relief" as he reached the summit of North America’s highest mountain.

The ex-Newport Gwent Dragons player reached the summit of Denali, also known as Mount McKinley at 8.08am UK time this morning .

As we reported earlier today, he overcame a brush with death after a fall into an ice crevasse and has battled with a painful frost-bittten toe.

This latest achievement means he has now completed eight out of nine legs of his 737 Challenge.

Parks has just one more mountain to conquer, Mt Elbrus in Russia, to make history as the first ever person to climb the continental summits and stand on the North and South Poles in the same calendar year.

The Gwent adventurer called from the top of Denali saying: “What an epic and brutal nine days it’s been. As far as summit climbs go its been really tough, we have pretty much broken trail all day and we are both shattered now but what an amazing feeling, especially after the last couple of weeks with the issues of my toe and then obviously the crevasse fall the first day. To come through it all is a fantastic feeling and a massive relief as well”.

He added: “To everyone that has been following my challenge and certainly following the last couple of weeks of drama, thank you so much, all the messages of support really mean the world to me and please if you get the opportunity visit the website 737challenge.com please make a donation and help me raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care, any penny you can give really can make a difference, thank you guys”.

Richard reached the summit of Denali alongside climbing partner Matt Parkes after a gruelling 10 and a half hour summit climb.

He has now conquered The South Pole, Antarctica’s highest mountain - Mount Vinson, South America’s Aconcagua, Africa’s Kilimanjaro, Australasia’s Carstensz Pyramid, The North Pole, the highest mountain in the world - Mount Everest and now North America’s Denali, all in just over 6 months.