Samiti Lake below Pandim

Samiti Lake sits above Lamuney, the last camp before Goecha La, in a wide glacial valley called Onglakthang. Wikipedia gives its height as about 4,200–4,300 m and its width as up to 230 m when it is full. The water is clear and green, and on still mornings the peaks around it reflect on the surface. It freezes in winter and thaws in spring, when small plants and flowers appear around its edges.

Most groups walk past the lake in the dark at about 3 am on the way to Viewpoint 1 and see it properly only on the way back. If your group camps at Lamuney, ask your guide whether you can walk up in the afternoon before summit day. It is an easy walk of under an hour from Lamuney, and it is a good way to test how you feel at this height before the big early start.

The lake is known locally in Sikkimese as Bunmoten Choo and is considered sacred as a source of the Prek Chu, the river that runs past Thansing. Treat it with respect. Do not wash, throw stones or leave anything in the water, and keep your voice down. Sit on the moraine for a while and look up at Pandim, which rises steeply above the lake to 6,691 m. Then walk back slowly; you will need the energy later.