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Trekking / Minya Konka self-supported trek
Guided backpacking · self-supported
Seven days on the classic Minya Konka line with a guide, the tents on your own back — for trekkers who know high country, sleep in tents happily, and would rather own the whole walk.
Ask about this itineraryCarrying your own line through the range · the classic Konka trek
the Riuqi Pass, day five
your tent, your cooking — lodge and hotel nights at the ends
pack, sleeping bag, food and stove fuel; 80 L minimum
and only for trekkers with prior high-altitude camping
Why this route
The classic Minya Konka trek — Langgatso, the Moxi valley, the Reddomain camp, the Riuqi Pass at 4,950 metres and the long walk down the roadless valley — was walked for decades without porters, and this trek keeps it that way. You carry your own pack, food and camping gear; an experienced guide walks with you, and every transfer, ticket and bed off the mountain is arranged.
It is deliberately not for everyone. It asks for prior high-altitude trekking, nights in tents you pitched yourself, and the judgement to look after your own pace and your own safety between camps. In exchange it is the cheapest and most honest way to walk this range: public buses, village lodges, your own stove, and the same big mountains.
It runs as a private booking on your dates, May to October. If that sounds like too much ownership, the supported version of the same country is the Gongga in-depth trek — porters, cook crew, the lot.
The route
West by public bus to the Yulongxi country, three nights under canvas crossing to the Riuqi valley, then the long walk out to Kangding and the bus home.
Day by day
Three camp nights with everything on your back. Food and fuel are bought before the trail — the plan lists what and where.
Chengdu → Xinduqiao
The 2018 expressway by public bus, six or seven hours to Xinduqiao at 3,400 metres. The afternoon is for walking the town slowly, buying the last food — or having bought it in Chengdu the day before — and checking gear honestly.
The night is a hotel. Altitude precautions from here on are your own work; the guide will brief but not carry them for you.
Langgatso → Yulongxi
Four hours further west by local transport to the trail head, and the whole afternoon on foot: from 4,000 metres up to Langgatso at 4,500 — the lake that mirrors the whole west face of the range — and around its shore before descending to the village lodge at Yulongxi.
Eight kilometres of acclimatisation walking with a heavy pack on. Take it slowly; the week is long.
Over the Yulongxi Pass → Moxi camp
A seven o'clock start for the long climb to the Yulongxi Pass at 4,500 metres, then the descent into the Moxi valley to the first camp of the trek at 4,000 metres — stove, tent and dinner all your own work now.
Sixteen kilometres with a full pack at altitude. The guide assists with stove and tent craft if any of it is new, but the pack stays on your shoulders.
Moxi → Reddomain camp
An easy ten kilometres up the valley to the camp below Reddomain at 4,400 metres — alpenglow on the glaciers at dawn, ice and summits along the river all day, and time to spare for photographs or sleep.
A deliberate rest before the pass: eat more than you feel like, dry everything, sleep early.
Over the Riuqi Pass
The hardest and finest day: a steep, breathless climb to the Riuqi Pass at 4,950 metres, the top of the trek, with the south-side peaks — Jiazi, Grosvenor, Little Konka, Reddomain, Daddomain — named and visible in one sweep. Cross before early afternoon, always.
The descent passes the glacier lake at the foot of 6,112-metre Reddomain and reaches the open grassland camp at 4,500 metres. Everything on your back earned this view.
Riuqi valley → Kangding
Eighteen kilometres down the roadless Riuqi valley — Tshiburongi's crags, the valley walls, other trekkers appearing as the trail nears the world — to the road head and the drive to Kangding. A hotel at 2,700 metres and a bed that does not move.
The valley catches the morning gold for the first two hours; walk early and enjoy it.
Kangding → Chengdu
A free morning in Kangding for anyone with energy, then the public bus back to Chengdu — four to five hours, arriving mid to late afternoon. The trek ends at the bus station; your own front matter resumes.
Along the way
Walking alone and quietly, you see more — that is the quiet deal of a self-supported trek.
The Moxi and Riuqi valleys · the passes
Blue sheep on the base-camp crags are near routine. Small parties move quietly, and the valleys notice.
Chances are field estimates, not promises. The route sleeps between 3,400 and 4,500 metres and crosses a 4,950-metre pass — alone, at your own pace.
What's included
The guide, the ground logistics and the beds off the mountain are ours; the mountain itself is yours to carry.
Arranged and paid for before you arrive.
An experienced trekking guide
With you the whole seven days.
All public and local transport
Buses and village transfers, tickets included.
Cooking gear and fuel canisters
Stoves and pots — the food itself is yours.
Lodges and hotels
Yulongxi, Xinduqiao and Kangding, twin share where it exists.
Arrangement and logistics
The plan, the route notes and the backup.
Yours, or yours to ask us about.
All carrying
Pack, sleeping bag, tent, food — the definition of this trek.
All food
Bought before the trail; the plan lists what works at altitude.
Personal gear
Minimum 80 L pack, four-season-capable bag, boots.
Chengdu nights
The city at either end is yours to book.
Tips and personal expenses
At your discretion.
This trek is only for trekkers with high-altitude and tent-camping experience — we will ask, and we would rather turn a booking away than carry someone off the pass. A full packing list and food plan follow confirmation.
Enquiry
Tell us your window, your trekking history and how many of you there are. We will come back honestly about fit, with the route notes and a written outline with a price.
Read next: The Gongga in-depth trek · The Minya Konka group trek · The Riwuqi trek, 4 days · Five ways to walk Minya Konka · How hard is hard? All 15 routes, graded · Training for the passes
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