Northwest Yunnan is one of regions undergoing significant climate change in southwestern China and has experienced fast warming in the past decades. Pinus densata is a coniferous species that mainly dominates the south-facing slopes in this region. Studying the response of radial growth of P. densata to climate factors is of importance for understanding the adaptation of subalpine coniferous forests to climate change. A total number of 322 cores from 161 trees were collected in one hectare permanent forest plot in the Baima Snow Mountain. Tree ring-width residual chronology was developed by using standard dendrochronology techniques. To determine the key climate factors limiting the radial growth of P. densata, correlation coefficients between ring-width chronology and monthly climate data were calculated during 1957-2020. The results showed that radial growth of P. densata was positively correlated with temperature in winter and spring from November of the previous year to April of the current year. Meanwhile, ring-width index also negatively correlated with the maximum and average temperature in May of the current year. The radial growth of P. densata was positively correlated with precipitation April-May, relative humidity in May, and standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI6) during May-August. Moving correlation analysis revealed an unstable responses of P. densata radial growth to climatic factors. The influences of winter temperature on the growth of P. densata were weakened during the past decades, which implied that to some extent P. densata growth might benefit from regional winter warming. The influence of summer and autumn temperatures on radial growth of P. densata shifted from weakly negative to significantly positive in recent years. Moreover, the sensitivity of the radial growth of P. densata to relative humidity and SPEI6 during summer months were diminished during recent decades. These results can provide a reference for studying the growth dynamics of subalpine pine natural forests under climate change.