Minya Konka Range is located in Daxueshan Range in the bigger Hengduan Shan Range of eastern Tibetan Plateau where the highest mountain Mount Gongga is considered to be the easternmost 7000er on earth. Minya Konka is also the name of the highest mountain Mount Gongga or Gonggashan itself, with a height of 7556 meters above sea level. There are also over a dozen of 6000+ meters mountains in this area despite the many side peaks of Mount Gongga. Among these peaks some of them are still left unclimbed due to its lesser known status and also the former lockdown of this place. Now the mountains in Minya Konka are all open to domestic and international climbers. At Minya Konka Range, the known mountains include Mt. Gongga, Mt. Jiazi, Mt. Edgar, Mt. Grosvenor, Mt. Zhongshan, etc.
To get to Minya Konka one normally start from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province in southwestern China where it locates an international airport that can be easily accessed from most of the countries in the world. One normally use the car from Chengdu to Kangding however there is also an airport in Kangding that has scheduled flights from Chengdu and Chongqing. See details here. By driving it usually takes about 7-8 hours to get to Minya Konka (with the new motorway almost finished, it is supposed to be half day’s drive from Chengdu in 2018). By flight, it takes about 1 hour but it involves waiting and transit between places.
To go into Minya Konka, there are several main entrances into the mountains. Minya Konka Range is a north-south lining range and one can go from its east at Hailuogou Valley, Yanzigou Valley or Nanmenguangou Valley, from its north to go from Kangding via Laoyulin Village, to go from its southwest via Shangmuju village and via Gongga Gompa, from its south via Caoke Xiang and into southwest as well.
To go to Kangding and Hailuogou or Caoke Xiang, by driving it takes one day for within 8 hours. To go to the west of Minya Konka, the driving is longer up to 1.5 days. See below a map of the trails and mountains of Minya Konka Range including the elevations of different places.
The traditional climbing season of Minya Konka mountains is spring in May and fall from September to November. A lot of former expeditions were conducted in October as it is usually the driest season. At present there are no reliable detailed weather records of Minya Konka, below is a sample historical weather record of Kangding at 2500 meters.
Mt. Gongga is 7556 meters, the highest mountain in this range.
Mt. Edgar is in the northern range, 6618 meters.
Mt. Jiazi (6549 meters) and Grosvenor (6376 meters) are in the middle range.
Mt. Zhongshan is the second highest mountain in the range, 6886 meters.
Mt. Dadomain is 6380 meters.
Mt. Reddomain is 6112 meters.
Mt.Langemain is 6294 meters.
Lamoshe is in the north range of Minya Konka, with the highest peak at 6070 meters.
Mt.Melcyr and Tirol are together hidden in the valley, both are about 6000 meters.
Mt. Tshiburongi (Little Konka) is 5928 meters.
Mt. Nama Feng is 5588 meters.
Route: Chengdu - Mt.Siguniang - Chengdu
Route: Chengdu - Gongga - Chengdu
Route: Chengdu - Gongga - Chengdu
