Report by Hans Schaefer, November 2011.

From Kangding, Sichuan, China, take the bus towards Jiulong. It passes Zhe Duo La mountain pass (4200m). Take it to the 99km mark of the highway (alt. 3352m pos. N29.45270 E101.44876). From there you need to get local transport up the valley towards east. There are minibuses (baoche, 150 Yuan) as well as motorcycles (100 Yuan) up the valley to Shangmujü. The road has concrete surface until Gonggashan xiang town (贡噶山 ), alt. 3462m, pos. N29.47265 E101.54013, then it is a gravel road (maybe concrete in 2012), passing Liuba to Shangmujü ( 上木居). This place has many guesthouses. I stayed at the lowest one, marked with a roadside sign ”Shangmujü” (alt. 3689m pos. N29.47669 E101.63931). People at this place are extremely helpsome and friendly and will organize further transport and advice for you. For any transport they organized, the drivers arrived before the agreed time. There was no trouble waiting. They never took more money than agreed before. Mobile number of the owner (name: Duo Peng): 1355851099.

Accommodation is in two bed rooms with clean blankets. The rooms are not warmed up, thus cold in winter, but their blankets are warm enough. There is electricity. They have just installed the first solar warming in the valley for warm water, as well as showers. I was the first guest to use this, and it worked well! They made breakfast and dinner for me, and the cost was 50 Yuan per day in 2011, probably far below the real value.

 

Shangmujü consists of many small settlements about 4 km along the road. The area is about 3700m – 3800m high.
The uppermost hostel in Shangmujü is called Dengba shanzhuang and has phone # 13990460621.

 

Further 10 km up the road is Yulongxi (alt. 3830m, pos. N29.57169 E101.66944). The valley floor broadens there.

 

About 6 km above the guesthouse at Shangmujü (alt 3794m, pos. N29.52280 E101.66135), a road starts up the mountains to Zimei Yakou (also called Yakou, 子梅山垭口), 4555m high (pos. N29.51785 E101.72145), leaving the valley over a bridge to the right. An improvised plate with Chinese characters shows the two destinations. It winds up a side valley. Sometimes, the old path is still visible and usable along the road. From Shangmujü to the top it takes nearly one hour by motorcycle. This costs 150 Yuan. A sketch map is displayed below, in Norwegian, the guesthouse being southwest, Zimei Yakou east.

 

At this pass you have a great view to Gongga Shan and its western precipices. Towards northeast, there are many other white mountains above 6000m. Towards north, south and west, all mountains look like easy walks, but due to their altitude (above 4500m), the walk may be a bit strenuous. At Yakou, there are prayer flags and there is a newly built mobile phone relay, driven by two wind turbines. However, it is yet to be opened.

 To get to Gongga Si (贡嘎寺), the monastery below Gonga Shan, you may either walk or go further by motorcycle. Here is how:

 The road winds down 38 turns to Shang Zimei at 3400m altitude. It takes 2 hours walking, 30 minutes by motorbike. However, the driver may switch off the motor and go down using only the brakes. This is a bit scary. The foot trip is more safe and may give you an interesting view of mountains scenery and grazing yaks. Below 4000m altitude there is dense forest. Shang Zimei has three houses, and again, people are friendly. You may stay at the southernmost house (overnight), get food and tea, and the guy there or his brother may bring you up again to Yakou on their motorbikes for 100 Yuan. (They have a car, but the price with it is 250 Yuan. However, I do not know if this is a price for the car or for each person). I have not checked the facilities at the other houses. The road continues down valley at least to Xiazimei, probably further to CaoKe and Moxi.

The path to Gongga Si starts about one more kilometer down the road below the village (pos. N29.52920 E101.75517). Walk down the road until it starts with zigzag down the valley. After two turns, there is a prayer flag on the left side and the path starts downwards. It crosses the river at 3380 m altitude on a wooden bridge. Frustratingly low, but the bridge is OK, and the path very visible, marked with prayer flags, prayer sheets put under stones and thrown away waste. From the bridge it takes about two hours to get to Gongga Si (alt 3741m, pos. N29.56540 E101.77032). Dense forest with big trees, pine, birch, lark, fir, a kind of oak and rhododendron. First steeply upwards, then less steep. After two kilometers a port, and you meet the motorcycle path coming from downwards from sthe right. Near this port you may turn north along Moxi gou, the valley with the river you crossed at the bridge, towards north. More and more prayer flags. Just follow the path. It reaches a high point about 3800 meters, then slowly leads down to 3700. First a camp site, then the monastery. You may stay there for 25 Yuan, plus 20 Yuan entrance fee. The monks (two) are very friendly and provide you with tea and hot water. Sleeping accommodation is primitive, but good enough. They have electric light from their own power station in the glacier river.

Here is an early morning view of the mountain.

 

From Gongga Si they have paths to the glacier, to the river and up left to the mountains. The view of Gongga Shan and its glacier is great! However, at this location there is more fog and bad weather than in the Shangmujü valley.

A trip towards northwest from Shangmujü

You may go to the peaks on the west side of the valley.
From Shangmujü hostel, go along the street up the valley about half a kilometers, to the first river from the left. Turn left and follow a path along the southwest bank of the river up the valley. This path will cease at some grasslands about 4100m high. Then turn up left towards some gray rocks, about 4200m. Pass these on the north side and head up the mountain as you see the easiest way. You may, after getting to the top, go north along the edge. To go down, use any of the vallys further north, or go back the same way. You have a great view of Gongga Shan.
To get to the top will take four to five hours. Going down is much faster, probably two hours.

A trip towards northeast from Shangmujü

You may go to the top "Dra Ko", 4710m altitude (pos. N29.50071 E101.68278).

A sketch map of this trip, in Norwegian, is included below, compiled from GPS data. The start is on the west side, the mountain top northeast. You may get my waypoint data or a translation by sending mail to me.

From Shangmujü hostel, go along the street up the valley about two kilometers, to the second river bridge (alt. 3700m pos. N29.49078 E101.65224). There, take right turn up a tractor road along the river for 100 meters, then follow the tractor road over the side valley river (left), then a right turn, again left, until just in front of the entrance to a farm house. Then turn right, round the fence (have it on your left hand side) and follow the small visible path up the mountain towards north. Follow this path as far as it gets you, then head up the mountain, mostly on its edge, towards east. You will have to cross some newly planted firs as well as bush, but most of the way is easy. It gets easier farther up. Along the edge, you may find small cairns. From 4300 meter altitude, most of the ground is covered by grass, plus some small juniper and azalea shrubs. Larger cairns are at 4640m, but you should head up to the top at 4710m in order to have a great view round, including to Gonga Shan. Towards southwest, you can see the high mountains at the border to Tibet. The trip up may take you  four hours.

Here is a picture with the view from the mountain top towards northwest, beyond Yulongxi. The light area ooking like sand is west of the village called Quanhuatan. A mountain river has left terraces covered with colored sand and moss. This is worth a trip.

You may continue to Zimei Yakou from here. There are old cairns showing the way towards northeast.

You may go down the same way, or farther north towards Yulongxi, just heading down the grass slopes, or you go down the same way until a pass at 4300m, then turn left, right down into the next valley to the west. You reach it at about 3900m altitude (pos. N29.48604 E101.67158), where you find some fences to collect animals. Crossing the small river in the valley floor should not be a problem. From here, use a tractor road down the valley until you reach the main road. The trip down takes two hours. (Every valley floor here has some kind of path, either made by animals or by tractors or motorbikes.

Here is a picture of the valley below the mountain. The slopes are passable nearly anywhere.

Links to further information:

A report from September 1995, going to Gonga Si from Kangding by horse.

Below part of a Chinese map available at shops in Kangding, with possible trkking routes inserted by Tom Patton.

The map below is a detailed map sketched by Eduard Imhof from Switzerland after his Sichuan expedition in 1930. A map of the whole area is published in his book: Eduard Imhof, "Die Großen Kalten Bergevon Szetschuan", Orell Füssli Verlag Zürich 1974. The map only contains areas the author has visited or been ableto survey. Place names are phonetically written as the author understood them in his time, using German language phonetics. For example, "Zi Mei" is displayed as "Tschümi". Dashed lines are pathes, blue areas are snow-capped.

Finally a sketch map by China Trekking, a travel agency. The names have some alternative spellings. Gonga Shan mountain is also called Minya Konka.