Saser Kangri II West was first climbed in 1984 by an Indo-Japanese team, who at the time, had believed the peak to be higher than Saser Kangri II East and only subsequently was it determined to be the lower of the two. Saser Kangri II East was first climbed by Mark Richey, Steve Swenson and Freddie Wilkinson on August 24, 2011. Until then it was the world's second highest unclimbed mountain after Gangkhar Puensum.