Snowy Taiga Hills

This article describes content that has been officially made unobtainable in Bedrock Edition.

It can still be obtained using third-party software. However, this can cause unexpected behavior such as bugs and crashes.

This page describes content that has been removed from Java Edition.

This feature was present in earlier versions of Java Edition, but has since been removed.

The snowy taiga hills or cold taiga hills biome is a hills variant of the snowy taiga that no longer generates since Caves & Cliffs: Part II, and was removed in Java Edition.

Description

Old

Like all other hills biomes, snowy taiga hills featured hillier, more erratic terrain. These hills were somewhat steep, making this variant difficult for survival. Although this was a snowy biome, rivers generated inside snowy taiga hills were not replaced by frozen rivers. Pillager outposts and villages generated in this biome,‌^{[BE only]} however, unlike the regular snowy taiga, igloos didn't generate here.

Current

In Bedrock Edition, snowy taiga hills in older worlds still received updates. When generated through single biome or behavior packs, they can also generate new blocks.

They appear similar to the current snowy taiga. Animals spawn here with their cold variants and wolves use their ashen variant. Unlike regular snowy taigas, trail ruins do not generate. A higher snow accumulation value causes most snow to generate stacked.

With Vibrant Visuals, snowy taiga hills use a coolish humid volumetric fog setting, which slightly fades the distance in an orange tint. Snowy taiga hills have strong cold color grading which tints the environment with an icy blue color, and cold sunlight which appears slightly brighter at dusk and dawn.

Mobs

Snowy taiga hills use the same mob spawning chances as snowy taigas.

The following mobs naturally spawn here:

In **Java Edition**
Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Creature category
Sheep	¹²⁄₆₀	4
Pig	¹⁰⁄₆₀	4
Chicken	¹⁰⁄₆₀	4
Cow	⁸⁄₆₀	4
Wolf	⁸⁄₆₀	4
Rabbit^{[note 1]}	⁴⁄₆₀	2–3
Fox^{[note 2]}	⁸⁄₆₀	2–4
Monster category
Spider	¹⁰⁰⁄₅₁₅	4
Zombie	⁹⁵⁄₅₁₅	4
Zombie Villager	⁵⁄₅₁₅	1
Skeleton	¹⁰⁰⁄₅₁₅	4
Creeper	¹⁰⁰⁄₅₁₅	4
Slime^{[note 3]}	¹⁰⁰⁄₅₁₅	4
Enderman	¹⁰⁄₅₁₅	1–4
Witch	⁵⁄₅₁₅	1
Ambient category
Bat	1	8

↑ 80% of spawned rabbits are white and 20% are black and white.
↑ The foxes are snowy foxes.
↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.

In **Bedrock Edition**
Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Creeper	100	1
Slime^{[note 1]}	100	1
Spider	100	1
Zombie	95	2–4
Skeleton	80	1–2
Enderman	10	1–2
Witch	5	1
Zombie Villager	5	2–4
Creature category
Ashen Wolf	13	4
Sheep	12	2–3
Cold Chicken	10	2–4
Glow Squid	10	2–4
Cold Pig	10	1–3
Cold Cow	8	2–3
Snow Fox	8	2–4
Rabbit	4	2–3
Ambient category
Bat	1	2

↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.

Data values

ID

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID
[No displayed name]	`cold_taiga_hills`	`31`

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.7.2	13w36a	Added cold taiga hills.
1.13	18w19a	Renamed Cold Taiga Hills to Snowy Taiga Hills.
1.14	18w49a	Sweet berry bushes are now rarely generated in snowy taiga hills.
1.14	19w07a	Added foxes, which may spawn in snowy taiga hills and have white fur.
1.18	Experimental Snapshot 1	Snowy taiga hills no longer generates.
1.18	21w40a	Snowy taiga hills have been removed.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0	build 1	Added cold taiga hills, along with many other biomes.
v0.9.0	build 1	Added wolves which may spawn in cold taiga hills.
v0.13.0	build 1	Added rabbits which may spawn in cold taiga hills.
v0.15.0	build 1	Villages now may generate in cold taiga hills.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	Added pillager outposts which can generate in snowy taiga hills.
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	Added sweet berry bushes which rarely generate in snowy taiga hills.
1.11.0	beta 1.11.0.1	Added patrols which may spawn in snowy taiga hills.
1.13.0	beta 1.13.0.1	Added foxes which may spawn in snowy taiga hills.
1.18.0	beta 1.18.0.22	Snowy taiga hills no longer generates naturally.
1.20.80	Preview 1.20.80.21	Wolves that spawn in snowy taiga hills are now the ashen variant.
1.21.60 Experiment Drop 1 2025	Preview 1.21.60.25	Pigs that spawn in snowy taiga hills are now the cold variant.
1.21.70 Experiment Drop 1 2025	Preview 1.21.70.20	Cows that spawn in snowy taiga hills are now the cold variant.
1.21.70 Experiment Drop 1 2025	Preview 1.21.70.22	Chickens that spawn in snowy taiga hills are now the cold variant.
1.21.90	Preview 1.21.90.26	Added semi-humid volumetric fog, cold color grading, and cold lighting to snowy taiga hills with Vibrant Visuals.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Added cold taiga hills, along with many other biomes.
			1.91				Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in snowy taiga hills.
			1.91				Added sweet berry bushes, which rarely generate in snowy taiga hills.

Data history

Java Edition
1.13			pre5				Changed the ID `taiga_cold_hills` to `snowy_taiga_hills`.
1.18			21w37a				Prior to the removal of numerical biome IDs, this biome's numerical ID was 31.

Issues

Issues relating to "Cold Taiga Hills" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

Snowy taiga hills.
A pillager outpost in snowy taiga hills.
A village in snowy taiga hills during snowfall, in Bedrock Edition.
Snowfall in snowy taiga hills in Bedrock Edition.
A snowy taiga hills single biome world.
Snowy taiga hills with ray tracing.