The High Ice is a monster-infested region of ice and snow found directly north of the Anauroch desert. A glacier, extended from its original size by the magic of the phaerimm[1]. Its inhabitants are the harmless icejacks, the bizarre snow snakes and a few mammal and bird species adapted to the cold. The region is also known amongst explorers for its monsters remorhaz, ice trolls, yeti, mammoths, white puddings, winter wolves, ice toads, snow cloakers and a single tribe of especially savage orcs have been documented as living in the region as well as crystal and white dragons. Despite it being an obvious place for frost giants to lair, no true giant has entered the region since a tribe of frost giants attempted to enslave the local dragon population, getting themselves completely wiped out in the process.

There is also a region in the High Ice known as the Smokeholes. This is where volcanic vents spew their hot gases out and create a warm, dry oasis of sorts in the midst of the frozen glacier. Red, brass, topaz, blue and other types of dragon frequent this area, as do salamanders. Dwarf and gnome miners are continually mounting expeditions to this area to mine the rumoured rich veins of ores in the Caverns of Burning Ice located beneath the Smokeholes.

Legends tell of the northernmost part of the High Ice in actuality being a huge white pudding, hundreds of feet in diameter that doesn't move, simply waiting for creatures to come along and be devoured by it[2].


  1. slade (1996). How the Mighty Are Fallen. (TSR, Inc), p. 13. ISBN 0-7869-0537-9.
  2. James Butler, Elizabeth T. Danforth, Jean Rabe (September 1994). “Anauroch”. In Karen S. Boomgarden ed. Elminster's Ecologies (TSR, Inc), pp. 20–23. ISBN 1-5607-6917-3.