Muscat , Oman ( CNN ) -- Bone-chilling cold is virtually unimaginable to the people of Oman , where temperatures routinely hit 50 degrees Celsius ( 122 degrees Fahrenheit ) during the hot season . So when Bader Al Lawati and Ameer Abdulhussain first began experiencing temperatures as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius -- for two hours a time , three times a week , over a period of six months -- they found it `` a bit of a shock '' to say the least , said Al Lawati . `` That was the first time we were exposed to something that cold , '' said the 27-year-old . The pair -- who refer to themselves as `` the Freezing Omanis '' -- subjected themselves to the grueling sessions in an industrial freezer near the capital , Muscat , to acclimatise ahead of a far greater challenge ahead . Earlier this month , they set off from Ushuaia , Argentina on a two-week expedition to Antarctica as part of the Antarctic Youth Ambassador Program , operated by 2041 , an environmental NGO committed to protecting the frozen continent . Their trip , alongside 28 other participants from across the world , is intended to promote environmental protection of Antarctica and ensure the extension of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty -- the treaty prohibiting drilling and mining on the southern continent that runs until 2041 . `` We obviously know we need to do a lot of physical training , a lot of stamina , endurance training ... to get our physical ability up to standard , '' said Abdulhussain . `` But then comes the whole aspect of the cold . It 's extremely cold down there , extremely windy . '' Read more : Beauty and the beast in the UAE . While Antarctica might seem a world removed from Oman , the pair do n't see it that way . `` Instead of thinking of Oman just as Oman , think of the world as one single ecosystem , '' said Al Lawati . Oman , with its diverse , and in many places unspoiled landscape , has been something of a regional leader in environmental awareness . It was the first country in the Gulf to launch an environmental agency , although it still has some way to go . Oman is ranked 110 out of 132 nations surveyed in environmental sustainability over the past decade , according to Yale University 's 2012 Environmental Performance Index . Al Lawati said the coastline where his grandfather taught him to fish and swim as a child is now routinely covered in litter . `` Anywhere around the shoreline you find fishing nets discarded , plastic bags , cans ... trash all around . That should n't happen with a place this beautiful . '' But Lamees Daar , the executive director of conservation NGO the Environment Society of Oman , said the country intended to learn from the errors of other nations by preserving its environment . `` We are very lucky we 're at a time where industry and tourism is coming up in Oman , and we can make that difference now and learn from other peoples ' mistakes around the world , '' he said . The `` Freezing Omanis '' say that once they 're back from Antarctica they will have a renewed purpose to campaign for the environment at home . `` I want to come back and learn how to preserve that more , '' said Al Lawati .
A pair of Oman environmental activists have joined an Antarctic expedition . In preparation , they have been chilling their bodies in an industrial freezer for 2041 . Temperatures can often hit 122 degrees in Omani . The expedition is to raise awareness of Gulf 's ecological importance .