The Northwestern Yunnan Plateau, located in the southeastern edge of the Tibet Plateau, is a region sensitive to global climate change. Multiple tree species form the upper treeline on different snow mountains within the region, making the mountains ideal sites for dendrochronological studies. However, climate-growth relationships in the Shika Snow Mountain (one of the typical snow mountains in the region) are unclear, and improved understanding of tree growth response to climate change in Shika is fundamental to predicting growth under future climate change. To detect growth response of multiple species to climate change, we developed residual chronologies of Picea likiangensis and Pinus densata at upper distributional limits in Shika Snow Mountain, Northwestern Yunnan Plateau, using dendrochronology. We used response function to study relationships between residual chronologies and climatic factors, aiming to elucidate the main climatic factors affecting radial growth of conifers in the Northwestern Yunnan Plateau. To further analyze and verify the relationships between radial growth and temperature and precipitation, redundancy analysis was applied. Results showed that temperature was the main factor influencing conifer growth at the upper forest limits in the Shika Snow Mountain; temperature and precipitation have a lag effect on tree radial growth and the two conifers responded differently to climatic factors. Specifically:(1) The radial growth of P. likiangensis was affected by temperature and precipitation, showing a significantly negative correlation with mean minimum temperature of the previous October, and a significantly positive correlation with mean maximum temperature of the previous November and temperature of the current July. Precipitation of the previous August and current May inhibited growth of P. likiangensis. (2) The radial growth of P. densata was significantly and positively correlated with mean temperature and maximum temperature of the previous October and mean temperature of the previous November, and showed a significantly negative correlation with mean temperature and maximum temperature of the current July. However, no significant correlation was detected between growth and precipitation. (3) The redundancy analysis presented similar results as the response function analysis, further indicating that the method can effectively quantify the relationship between tree radial growth and climatic factors. This study provides a theoretical basis for the management and protection of forest ecosystems in the Northwestern Yunnan Plateau faced with climate change.