It rises about 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Shengping (升平镇), the seat of Dêqên County, which lies on China National Highway 214.

A mapping error by the Chinese army during the 1950s transcribed the name for a lower range of mountains to the north on a much larger area that also included Kawa Karpo.

Topographic extremes are immense, with vertical relief ranging from less than 2,000 m along the Mekong River on the east to 6,740 m on the summit of Kawa Karpo within 10 km horizontal distance.

[4] The ancestral religion of the Kawa Karpo area, as in much of Tibet, was Bön, a shamanistic tradition based on the concept of a world pervaded by good and evil spirits.

Since its introduction, Tibetan Buddhism has been the dominant religion of the Kawa Karpo area, with followers of Gelugpa doctrine being the most common.

[1] Mingyong Glacier descends steeply from the east face of Kawagarbo into the Mekong River valley on the Yunnan side of the massif.

A monk from Taizi Temple reflected on this rapid retreat of Mingyong Glacier, concerned that it might be punishment from Kawagarpo for the lack of devotion by him and his fellow Buddhists.

[11] The retreat of Mingyong Glacier, linked to a warming climate in the Deqin area,[12] has received considerable attention for its implications for biodiversity conservation,[13] retrieval of climber's bodies killed in the 1991 avalanche,[14] impacts on Mingyong village water supply,[15][16] and in the broader context of climate change impacts to biological and social systems in northwest Yunnan and beyond.