Mountains

Mountains are common cold biomes. There are four used variants and one unused variant in the biome family.

In 1.18, mountains are somewhat uncommon and refer to nine cold, snowy and temperate biomes divided into two subcategories: windswept hills and mountains. The windswept hills subcategory contains three biome variants and the mountains 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 windswept hills biomes generally peak at roughly Y-level 140. 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.

Mountains/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. Llamas can spawn in windswept hills.

The exact height at which rain ends and snow starts is randomized and used to be between Y levels 91 and 98 before Minecraft 1.18. 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.

Mountains
The mountains (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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Wooded mountains
The wooded mountains (windswept forest) variant 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 mountain range and border a river or another low-elevation biome.

Wooded mountains use the same mob spawning chances as mountains.

Gravelly mountains
The gravelly mountains (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. Gravelly mountains use the same mob spawning chances as mountains.

Gravelly mountains+
Gravelly mountains+, also referred to as modified gravelly mountains in code, is a rare variant of the wooded hill biome that has the exact same features as the regular gravelly mountains, making this biome almost indistinct from the former. with the only difference being the fact that it can rarely generate standalone as a thick separation when a desert lakes biome borders a snowy biome. It is absent

Gravelly mountains+ has the same mob spawning chances as mountains.

Mountain edge
The mountain edge variant used to generate before Java Edition 1.7.2. It is currently unused and it is absent. Similar to the jungle edge biome, it was a technical biome intended to provide a smooth transition from other biomes to the mountains. It resembles the wooded mountains with gentler slopes.

Mountain edges have the same mob spawning chances as mountains.

Mountains (upcoming)
These are six related biomes that 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 is a grassy biome 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 always has a bee nest. Both pillager outposts and plains villages can generate in this biome, making this the only mountain biome where villages can generate. This biome usually generates in the lower sides 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 sides of a mountain, reminiscent of a snowy taiga but the surface is covered with snow layers, snow blocks, dirt and a lot of powder snow instead of grass blocks. Rabbits, wolves and red foxes can spawn in this biome. This biome generates in high altitudes beneath the peaks and on hilltops next to forested biomes such as dark forests and taigas, and can generate at lower altitudes if next to snowy biomes.

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Snowy slopes
The snowy slopes is a mostly barren biome covered in snow, multiple layers of snow blocks and powder snow, with some sides also having stone cliffs. Goats spawn in this biome alongside rabbits. This is the only mountain biome where igloos can generate. Just like the grove, this biome generates at the slopes of the mountain, beneath the peaks and in hilltops, usually in areas with less forested biomes, such as plains and snowy tundras, and can start generating at lower altitudes in snowy regions.

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

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Frozen peaks
The frozen peaks are covered by snow, snow blocks, with glaciers of packed ice and occasional small 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 also generate in slightly jagged and taller peaks but less compared to the jagged peaks biome.

Frozen peaks use the same mob spawning chances as jagged peaks.

Stony peaks
The stony peaks are a warmer variation of both the jagged peaks and the frozen peaks biomes that generates when a mountain peak is in a region with lukewarm biomes such as savannas and jungles, and it doesn't 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 foliage 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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