Snowy Taiga Mountains

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

Description

Old

The very rare snowy taiga mountains featured much steeper terrain than the snowy taiga hills, but not as mountainous as the windswept hills. Similarly to the taiga mountains, this variant reached high elevations. The steep elevations made this biome difficult for survival. Structures didn't generate here. Although this was a snowy biome, rivers generated inside snowy taiga mountains were not replaced by frozen rivers.

Because snowy taigas were already very rare, this biome variant was the third rarest in the game, behind the modified badlands plateau and the modified jungle edge.

Current

In Bedrock Edition, snowy taiga mountains 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, although structures still do not generate. Animals spawn here with their cold variants and wolves use their ashen variant. A higher snow accumulation value causes most snow to generate stacked.

With Vibrant Visuals, snowy taiga mountains use a coolish humid volumetric fog setting, which slightly fades the distance in an orange tint. Snowy taiga mountains 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 mountains 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_mutated`	`158`

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.7.2	13w36a	Added cold taiga M.
1.7.2	13w36a	Both types of taigas now generate with ferns. and large ferns apart from grass.
1.13	18w16a	Renamed "Cold Taiga M" to "Mutated Cold Taiga"
1.13	18w19a	Renamed "Mutated Cold Taiga" to "Snowy Taiga Mountains".
1.14	18w49a	Sweet berry bushes are now rarely generated in snowy taiga mountains.
1.14	19w07a	Added foxes, which may spawn in snowy taiga mountains and have white fur.
1.18	Experimental Snapshot 1	Snowy taiga mountains no longer generates.
1.18	21w40a	Snowy taiga mountains have been removed.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0	build 1	Added cold taiga mutated, along with many other biomes.
v0.9.0	build 1	Added wolves which may spawn in cold taiga mutated.
v0.13.0	build 1	Added rabbits which may spawn in cold taiga mutated.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	Added sweet berry bushes which rarely generate in snowy taiga mountains.
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 mountains.
1.18.0	beta 1.18.0.22	Snowy taiga mountains no longer generates naturally.
1.20.80	Preview 1.20.80.21	Wolves that spawn in snowy taiga mountains are now the ashen variant.
1.21.60 Experiment Drop 1 2025	Preview 1.21.60.25	Pigs that spawn in snowy taiga mountains are now the cold variant.
1.21.70 Experiment Drop 1 2025	Preview 1.21.70.20	Cows that spawn in snowy taiga mountains are now the cold variant.
1.21.70 Experiment Drop 1 2025	Preview 1.21.70.22	Chickens that spawn in snowy taiga mountains 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 mountains 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 mutated, along with many other biomes.
			1.91				Added sweet berry bushes, which rarely generate in snowy taiga mountains.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added cold taiga M, but it does not have any snow.

Data history

Java Edition
1.13			pre5				Changed the ID `mutated_taiga_cold` to `snowy_taiga_mountains`.
1.18			21w37a				Prior to the removal of numerical biome IDs, this biome's numerical ID was 158.

Issues

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

Gallery

Snowy taiga mountains next to a gravelly mountains biome.
A village that generated partially inside a snowy taiga mountains biome, with snowfall.
Snowy taiga mountains next to ice spikes during snowfall, in Bedrock Edition.
A snowy taiga mountains single biome world.
Snowy taiga mountains with ray tracing.