An anomalously slight glacier mass gain during 2000 to the 2010s has recently been reported in the Karakoram region. However, to date, no investigations of the region-wide glacier mass balance in the Karakoram prior to 2000 have been reported, leaving a knowledge gap for assessing glacier responses to climate change. We calculated elevation and mass change using DEMs generated from KH-9 images acquired during 1973-1980 and the 1 arc-second SRTM DEM. We find a slight mass loss of -0.09 +/- 0.03 m w.e. a(-1) (12 366 km(2)) for 1973-2000, which is less negative than the global average rate for 19712009 (-0.31 +/- 0.19 m w.e. a(-1)). Within the Karakoram, the glacier change patterns are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. In particular, a nearly stable state in the central Karakoram (-0.04 +/- 0.05 m w.e. a(-1) during the period 1974-2000) implies that the Karakoram anomaly dates back to the 1970s. Combined with the previous studies, we conclude that the Karakoram glaciers as a whole were in a nearly balanced state during the 1970s to the 2010s.