Khunyang Chhish is the twenty-first-highest independent mountain in the world. It is also notable for its rise above local terrain: for example, it rises almost above its southern base camp on the Khunyang Glacier, and it rises above the Hunza valley in about . It is a steep, pointed, and complex peak; it easily rivals the slightly higher Distaghil Sar to the North, which has a more rounded profile.