What is widely cited as the world's highest unclimbed mountain?

The mountain widely cited as the world’s highest unclimbed mountain is Gangkhar Puensum.

Gangkhar Puensum rises to about 7,570 metres on or near the Bhutan–China border and is generally treated as Bhutan’s highest mountain. Its name is commonly translated from Dzongkha as “White Peak of the Three Spiritual Brothers,” reflecting the sacred status attributed to high Himalayan peaks in the region.

Several expeditions attempted the mountain in the 1980s, but none reached the main summit. Bhutan prohibited climbing peaks above 6,000 metres in 1994 and banned mountaineering entirely in 2003. That restriction, rather than technical difficulty alone, is a major reason the mountain remains unclimbed.

The wording matters: identifying the highest unclimbed peak can depend on mapping, summit definitions and whether subsidiary summits count. Liankang Kangri, also called Gangkhar Puensum North, was climbed in 1999, but it is considered a separate subsidiary peak rather than the main summit.