INTREPID former Newport Gwent Dragon’s rugby player Richard Parks is lucky to be alive after becoming trapped in a freezing crevasse on one of the world’s coldest mountains.

Parks, 33, who defied doctors’ warnings that he could lose his life if his frostbite develops into septicaemia to continue with his £1 million fundraising challenge, was trapped seven metres below the surface of ice on Alaska’s Mount Denali after a glacier on which he was climbing gave way.

Luckily, he landed on a ledge, with his rucksack breaking his fall, but he then slipped even further.

He said: “In a matter of seconds, we were in a really critical situation.”

Parks did not know how deep the crevasse went: “To my left it was just black.”

In horrendous weather conditions on a mountain where the temperature can drop to as low as -59C, his climbing partner Matt Parkes was left at the surface, trying to reach him, but unable to pull the Newport man to safety or to climb down to rescue him.

Two hours later, a seven-man climbing team happened to pass by and, with their help, Parks, then on the verge of hypothermia because of dripping water from the glacier, was finally brought to the surface in a rope rescue – only after one of the rescue team also became temporarily trapped in the crevasse with him.

Then, the former rugby player and Leeds man Matt Parkes faced a six-hour climb to the next camp on the mountain at 7,500ft.

With communications on the mountain limited, Parks yesterday publicly relived last week’s ordeal for the first time.

The ex-rugby player is climbing the highest mountain on each of the world’s seven continents in seven months to raise £1 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

A lack of solar power for his satellite phone means Parks has posted few updates since leaving base camp on June 22.

While he says “conditions have deteriorated”, with winds of up to 70mph and heavy snow, he is bravely continuing his climb – hoping to reach the summit of the 20,320ft Alaskan peak in the next few days despite the frostbitten toe he picked up on Mount Everest.

This would mean he has climbed six of the peaks, as well as venturing to the North and South poles, leaving him with just Russia’s Mount Elbrus to conquer.

He described his frostbitten right big toe as “pretty painful”, but says he is confident he won’t lose it as a result of this expedition.