What happened to Roald Amundsens flag after they left?
Flags constructed from strong cloth may last a year or two in the Antarctic before they become so frayed that they disintegrate. The reason is the persistently strong winds on the continent and the abrasion caused by wind-blown ice crystals. The pole would have a longer lifetime, but even if it was not up-routed it would get slowly buried by snowfall year round. Currently a pole three metres long, with one metre buried in the snow, could take 20 to 40 years before it was buried at the South Pole. The tent and sledge left at the South Pole by Amundsen are certainly buried and have probably travelled around 1 km since they were left, due to the flow of the glacier ice.
