The Jinping Mountains are rugged and rise almost above the Yalong River on either side. The Jinping are located in the complicated grouping of mountains called the Hengduan Mountains that transition between the Tibetan Plateau in the northwest to the Yungui Plateau in the southeast. The Jinping are sometimes classified as a southern subrange of the Shaluli Mountains, a component range of the Hengduan. The Yalong River separates the Jinping Mountains from the Daxue Mountains to north.