FORMER Newport Gwent Dragon star Richard Parks has made it to the Antarctic in the first leg of his mammoth challenge to climb the highest peaks in all seven continents and reach the three poles in seven months.
Parks left Cardiff Bay on December 12, flying to Punta Arenas in Chile for a connecting flight to Patriot Hills, Antarctica, where he began his trek to the South Pole on Thursday.
On Friday he made it to the Union Glacier base camp with temperatures at minus 12, and is expected to reach the South Pole around December 27.
He will spend Christmas Day trekking in temperatures of minus 30 and head winds of up to 30 knots.
Parks will then have to camp out at the pole over the New Year, because he has to reach all nine peaks and poles in the same calendar year for his challenge to count as a world first.
Parks aims to raise £1 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care with his record-breaking attempt.
After the South Pole, he will across the Antarctic to climb Mount Vinson, which stands at 4,897 metres.
The seven summits Parks will tackle over the next seven months are Vinson Massif in Antarctica, Aconcagua in Argentina, South America, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, Carstensz in Indonesia, Australasia, Mount Everest in Nepal, Asia, Denali in the USA, and Elbrus in Russia representing Europe.
The three poles are the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Everest. You can follow Parks at 737challenge.com
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