Mount Timpanogos is hiding enough ice to fill 600 Olympic swimming pools, buried under a field of loose rock above Emerald Lake.

University of Utah researchers estimate the Timpanogos Rock Glacier contains 1.5 million cubic meters of ice, according to a study published Aug. 26 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. The formation sits in a cirque overlooking communities along the Wasatch Front between Salt Lake City and Provo.

The glacier is 83% ice. Lead author Bronson Cvijanovich, a former graduate student in the University of Utah's Department of Geology & Geophysics, called the formation "surprisingly ice rich," with loose rock making up the remaining 17%, in a university news release carried by the Lehi Free Press.

The ice body reaches up to 150 feet deep at its thickest point, with an average thickness of about 62 feet, according to ScienceBlog's coverage of the research. The rock glacier creeps downhill at 8 to 20 centimeters per year.

To map what lies beneath, Cvijanovich led six expeditions to the site in the fall of 2024. The team hiked about five miles with 3,500 feet of elevation gain, hauling a gravimeter that measures density differences between rock and ice. They collected readings at 232 points arranged in a grid, each spot roughly 80 feet apart.

Co-author Michael S. Thorne, a University of Utah geophysics professor, said the team spent months on computation after fieldwork. The gravimeter detects where gravitational pull weakens over lighter ice compared to denser surrounding rock, allowing researchers to build a 3D map of the buried ice body.

A companion study found that Utah's rock glaciers are not leftovers from the Ice Age. Instead, they formed over thousands of years as rockfalls buried persistent snow. The loose rock on top acts as insulation, shielding the ice from warming temperatures.

That protective layer makes rock glaciers what Cvijanovich called "climate-resilient water storage sites." The Timpanogos formation is still adding ice, the researchers said.

Using the area-to-volume relationship measured at Timpanogos alongside data from 10 other rock glaciers, the team estimated Utah's 836 known rock glaciers may hold about 1 gigaton of water, equivalent to 815,000 acre-feet. Across the western United States, the estimate rises to about 12 gigatons.

"There's a lot of ice that's hidden in Utah's mountains," said Leif Anderson, a University of Utah glaciology professor who oversaw the study. "When we are high in the mountains and walking across loose rocks or rubble, you don't realize there could be 120 feet of ice buried beneath your feet."