Mountains

Mountains are eleven cold, snowy and temperate biomes divided into two subcategories: windswept hills and mountain peaks. The windswept hills subcategory contains five biome variants, with one (two ) being unused, and the mountain peaks subcategory contains six biome variants.

Description
Mountain biomes feature steep terrain and reach higher elevations than any other biome in the game other than the shattered savanna biomes. The grass and leaves are an aqua color. The surface can be grassy, rocky and gravelly, snowy or icy, with many blobs and veins of ores and those are the only biomes where emerald ore is found. The cliffs of the common extreme hills biome generally peak at roughly Y-level 140, but peaks go higher, so they could be a good place to find iron ore abundantly. There are stony areas below the sea level where infested blocks with silverfish can be generated, even below the deepslate layer.

Mountain biomes have some unusual features and formations compared to other biomes due to the terrain generation algorithm. Floating blocks and even small floating islands are common, as are overhangs and large waterfalls (occasionally, even springs and lavafalls). This can create some impressive views at times. These oddities may be magnified in shattered savannas.

Survival in mountain biomes can be challenging to beginners, due to the heights often risking heavy fall damage and higher elevations bringing snow and ice, but can be fairly easy once the player has acclimated to the area and found or made a flat-enough space for shelter. Llamas can also serve as useful pack animals when tamed. Water must be protected by light or a roof to prevent it from freezing when above the snowfall line, however, and the player must be aware of their surroundings to avoid falling off steep cliffs, especially when fighting hostile mobs. Care should also be taken when mining in Mountain biomes, due to infested stone occasionally generating; the player might get swarmed with silverfish if they're not prepared.

Water buckets can be used to climb mountains, by dumping the water onto a higher ledge and climbing up to the ledge. The player can safely collect the water into the bucket and repeat the procedure until the player is on top of the mountains. Water can also be used to collect snowballs from the mountains if snow generates there.

Windswept hills
These mountainous biomes mostly generate within clusters of temperate and cold biomes, commonly found next to taiga, forest, and plains. Oak trees occasionally generate in place of some spruce trees.



The exact height at which rain ends and snow starts is randomized between Y levels 91 and 98. More specifically, the lowest possible snow layer should form at Y level 91, and the lowest height at which snow always forms is Y level 98. Llamas can spawn here.

Windswept Hills
The windswept hills biome is the normal Mountain variant. This biome features the standard stony and grassy terrain, with a bit of tall grass and sporadically generated oak and spruce trees. As the climate is cold, rainfall changes to snowfall above approximately Y-level 92 where stacked snow layers form on blocks above that point, along with water freezing into ice. They are one of the two places where llamas can spawn, the other place being savanna biomes.

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Windswept Forest
The windswept forest generates groves of oak and spruce trees. This variant does not feature the stony terrain so that the tall grass and trees can generate more often. This biome also generates standalone as a thick separation when a desert is bordering a snowy tundra or snowy taiga biome.

While the increased wood supply can be useful, the risk of fatal fall damage still exists, especially if this variant generates on the edge of a windswept hills range and border a river or another low-elevation biome.

Windswept Forest uses the same mob spawning chances as windswept hills.

Gravelly Hills
The rare windswept gravelly hills variant replaces the top few layers of stone and grass with gravel across its landscape. Due to the gravel replacing most of the grass, trees generate far less often, making this variant relatively barren. Players should be careful when surfacing from underground in this biome, as the top layers of gravel can pose a suffocation hazard. Windswept gravelly gills uses the same mob spawning chances as extreme hills.

Gravelly Mountains+
Gravelly Mountains+, also referred to as modified gravelly mountains in code, is a rare variant of the windswept forest biome that has the exact same features as the regular windswept gravelly hills, making this biome almost indistinct from the former. The peaks are still covered in gravel, large valleys often generate among the peaks and the trees are still quite sparse in this biome, making this a difficult biome for survival, due to its barrenness being combined with steep terrain. Differently however, it can rarely generate standalone as a thick separation when a desert lakes biome is bordering a snowy taiga or tundra. It will be removed in Java Edition 1.18.

Gravelly Mountains+ use the same mob spawning chances as windswept hills.

Mountain Edge
The mountain edge variant is a currently unused variant. Similarly to the jungle edge biome, it was a technical biome intended to provide a smooth transition from other biomes to the windswept hills. It is similar to the taiga hills biome, but with a few oak trees. The terrain was gentler and not as steep as the normal windswept hills, with oak and spruce trees growing. This biome was phased out in the Java Edition 1.7.2 update development and does not generates naturally, though can still be seen using the Buffet world option or addons.

Mountain edges use the same mob spawning chances as windswept hills.

Mountain Peaks
There are six additional sub-biomes which make up an uncommon and cliffy mountain biome, that will generate in mountainous terrain in areas with low erosion values. They all can generate pillager outposts, with the meadow also being able to generate villages and snowy slopes being able to generate igloos. Some of these biomes are the only places where goats can spawn in the game. Just like the windswept hills, emerald ores can be found in these biomes, specially at higher altitudes and both coal and iron ores are commonly found in the peaks.

Meadow
The meadow features an almost flat field filled with patches of flowers and turquoise-green grass or double tall grass, where sheep, donkey, and rabbits spawn. All small flowers generate except blue orchids, tulips, lilies of the valley, or wither roses. Rarely, a lone oak or birch tree of any size can generate and will always have bee nests. Both pillager outposts, and plains villages can generate in this biome, making this the only mountain biome where villages can generate. Meadows usually generate in the lower slopes of some mountains but can also generate standalone in plateaus, mainly next to plains and other temperate biomes.

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Grove
The grove creates a forest of spruce trees on the slopes of a mountain, the water will freeze into ice and the surface is covered with snow, snow blocks, dirt, and a lot of powder snow. Rabbits, wolves and foxes can spawn in this biome even though grass blocks are not going to generate. This biome generates next to forested biomes such as dark forests and taigas, and will generate at lower heights if next to a snowy taiga.

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Snowy Slopes
The snowy slopes feature steep terrain leading up to the peak biomes and is covered in snow, three layers of snow blocks and powder snow. Goats spawn in this biome alongside rabbits. This is the only mountain biome where igloos can generate. This biome usually genereates next to plains biomes and can generate at lower heights if near a snowy tundra.

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Jagged Peaks
The Jagged Peaks is one of the three peak biomes, which will only generate on the top of the mountain if they are tall enough to generate it. This biome generates in regions with snowy, cold and temperate biomes and is more likely to generate in taller and more jagged peaks that often pass the clouds and peak at y=256. It is covered by a single layer of snow blocks or layers with stone underneath often exposing ores such as coal, iron and emerald. Only goats spawn in this biome.

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Snowcapped Peaks
The snowcapped peaks are covered by snow, snow blocks, with glaciers of packed ice and occasional blobs of ice. Only goats can spawn in this biome. This biome usually generates in smaller and smoother hills near snowy, cold and temperate biomes, but it can sometimes generate in taller peaks but unlike Jagged Peaks it doesn't generate in jagged peaks.

Snowcapped peaks use the same mob spawning chances as Jagged Peaks.

Stony Peaks
The stony peaks is a warmer variation of both the jagged peaks and the snowcapped peaks biomes that generates when a mountain peak is in a region with warmer biomes such as savannas, and jungles and it will not generate snowy slopes or groves in the slopes of the mountain, unless there's a colder biome bordering the peak. It is mainly covered by stone with large strips of calcite and exposed ores. The grass and folliage in this biome have a unique vibrant light green tint, similar to the tint of a shattered savanna in bedrock edition.

Stony peaks use the same mob spawning chances as Jagged Peaks for the hostile and ambient categories. No mobs spawn as part of the passive category.

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