A Sussex woman forced to quit an all-female Polar expedition because of frostbitten toes says she's "gutted".

Pom Oliver, 50, from Billingshurst, was airlifted from the ice cap after suffering from frostbite for five weeks of the North Polar bid.

"It was a bitter blow," said Pom, who is now recovering at a medical centre at Resolute Bay, northern Canada.

The other two members of the expedition -Ann Daniels, 37, from Whimple, Devon, and Caroline Hamilton, 35, from central London - are continuing across the ice cap to the North Pole.

The three women were bidding to become the first to trek all the way to both Poles, having conquered the South Pole in January 2000.

Pom said all the women suffered some degree of frostnip or frostbite, presumably from the first week of the expedition when temperatures were below minus 50C.

She said: "Frostbite is very insidious. You do not know you have actually got it.

"It could easily have come on in the first storm when we were sheltering under a flapping tent canvas and there was no way of getting warm."

The other two women recovered, but Pom said hers frostbite was getting worse despite taking "massive, massive amounts of painkillers".

She was flown out after the expedition was re-supplied on Sunday and the women were checked over by field manager and sports injury specialist Zoe Hudson.

Pom said: "I was limping and in a lot of pain." She had frostbite in five toes, three of which recovered.

"I knew I would be able to do a certain amount of mileage per day. There was no way I was going to hold up the team and managed not to."

But she said it was a "mutual decision" by her and Zoe to come off the ice. She is now awaiting X-rays to see how badly affected her toes are.