Most of the routes on this site are private by default: outlined, quoted and run for your party on your dates. Two run as fixed departures — the Minya Konka group trek and the snow leopard tour — with printed dates and printed prices. The two models look similar on a website and behave completely differently once money and calendar are involved. This page is the honest comparison.
The one difference.
A join-in departure sells seats. The price is per person, the dates are the operator’s, and strangers form the group — two to eight on the Konka trek, two to nine on the snow leopard week, both international trekkers only. A private route sells a trip. The price is per trip shaped by your group size and your dates, and nobody joins you. Most of the distinction below is just this sentence, unfolding.
How the money works.
Fixed departures advertise one number with a discount for early commitment. The Konka trek is CNY 8,200 per person, CNY 7,600 for a seat confirmed sixty days out — and July and August run at a surcharge (CNY 8,600, early booking CNY 8,000) because those weeks are worth more on the mountain. The snow leopard week is USD 2,320, USD 1,820 confirmed six months ahead, with a USD 620 deposit and booking closing two months before departure.
Private pricing answers a different question. A private version of the same Konka line starts from USD 2,110 per person in a group of four — which surprises people, because the private option is usually assumed to cost more. Sometimes it does; with a full group it may not. The way to find out is to ask both, which is what the enquiry form is for. Our cost guide covers what moves a private quote.
How the dates are chosen.
Fixed departure calendars are season statements in disguise. The Konka trek runs seven times from May to November 2027 — the camping season on the passes — with the 21 October departure deliberately clear of Golden Week. The snow leopard week runs three consecutive Junes in both 2027 and 2028 because that is when the cats work the valley edges on the Sanjiangyuan plateau; there is no December departure for the same reason there is no July one. Private dates can ignore all of this at your peril, or work with it at your advantage.
The small print that matters.
Every fixed departure carries a minimum-group clause, and it is the part worth reading twice. On the Konka trek, a departure that falls short of two trekkers a month before is cancelled — or runs at a supplement of up to 100 per cent of the tour cost. That clause is not an edge case; it is the mechanism that makes per-seat pricing possible on a route with horses and a cook crew. Booking early, or booking as a pair, is not marketing advice. It is how you avoid the clause entirely.
Private routes have the mirror-image risk: the trip is yours, so a cancellation is yours too — which is why the deposit and balance terms are written per trip rather than per seat.
Which to book.
Book the fixed departure if your dates flex, your party is one or two, and you are happy to walk with strangers — eight is a small group, and international-only is a real filter. Book private if the dates are the point, the party is three or more, or you would rather own the whole decision chain. And when the numbers look close, ask for both in writing; the two route pages make that a one-form job.
Prices, group sizes and clauses checked 7 November 2026 against the two route pages. Currency differs by route: CNY on the Konka trek, USD on the snow leopard week.
See both models?
The Minya Konka group trek — fixed departures
How a private route takes shape