# Liquid Mountaineering? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834 "2010-05-09T20:19:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scathach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scathach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scathach)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/1 "2010-05-09T20:19:09Z")
Not quite sure of the right forum to post this in - hope this is ok. Has anyone heard of this “liquid mountaineering” where people try to run on water? It doesn’t seem as if it could be real but I can’t find any websites debunking it. Any ideas? Video here [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Oe3St1GgoHQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Walk on water (Liquid Mountaineering)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe3St1GgoHQ) My WAG is that the first couple of feet of the lake they run into is extremely shallow and just gives an optical illusion of water walking, but I’m not sure… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/2 "2010-05-09T21:10:27Z")
This looks like something for the Mythbusters. I’m guessing that they’re faking it somehow. Maybe, as you say, that lake is very shallow at the edge. Either that or they constructed some kind of platform that’s just barely submerged. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/3 "2010-05-09T21:12:21Z")
The linked video sure makes it seem like an attempted woosh. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/4 "2010-05-09T21:15:11Z")
A lot of people think it’s a viral marketing campaign. I think I agree. When you watch it, notice the “Hi-Tec” logos all over their clothing and on the shoes. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/5 "2010-05-09T21:15:16Z")
This sounds really, really fake. Ten to one it’s a submerged platform or something, especially because that lake looks like a mountain lake, which are often deep. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/6 "2010-05-09T21:29:48Z")
My guess is the whole point of the video is the couple of seconds where they tell you that the most important thing are these amazing shoes they’ve discovered that are totally waterproof, with video of them pouring bottled water on a shoe. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/7 "2010-05-09T21:51:27Z")
You have to believe that you can walk on water. And yet, they’re wearing full-body wetsuits. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/8 "2010-05-09T22:07:38Z")
Jesus Christ! ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/9 "2010-05-09T23:36:38Z")
I was kind of buying it till the end, when they showed that the special equipment were just water-resistant booties and then did the thing with the wave-runner that obviously wasn’t helping them actually gain speed at all. If they’d ditched the wave-runner and rigged up some more exotic looking booties I might’ve managed to delude myself into thinking it was true (because dammit, I wanted it to be true!) Ah well. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/10 "2010-05-10T01:37:37Z")
I noticed every time they made any sort of real progress, they were entering in the same spot. I say submerged platforms. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/11 "2010-05-10T03:10:46Z")
I notice the angle of the camera never is good to see into the water - it is always at a flat angle, or looking into reflection. You can’t see into the water. Furthermore, they enter at the same spot. I notice one guy goes in and immediately starts going down, he is going in a slightly different direction. I notice that the ground is rather muddy at that one spot. I suppose repeated running in and walking out in that one spot could wear it more than the rest of the ground, but I think more likely it got disturbed while they were putting in platforms. At about the 1:56 mark I can see some discoloration in the water. I’m with **GilaB** , it’s viral marketing for Hi-Tek shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/12 "2010-05-10T14:24:09Z")
> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > I noticed every time they made any sort of real progress, they were entering in the same spot. I say submerged platforms. The guy also seems to kind of go around something when he starts swimming. He doesn’t swim back along the path he ran, he moves over a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/13 "2010-05-10T18:46:30Z")
“That’s because they are running in a curved path as part of using their curve to help give them something to push on, so the most direct path back to ground is not the path they ran.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/14 "2010-05-10T21:44:01Z")
Who needs Gore-tex when you’ve got Jeshues? Walk with the Lord, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/15 "2010-05-10T22:20:03Z")
Ric Ocasek [walks on water](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bEu9wLDjKY). ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/16 "2010-05-11T01:39:53Z")
They sold some big puffy inflatable plastic “shoes” which supposedly let you walk on water-if you had excellent balance (I did not, and was afraid I’d hit my head on the side of the pool). ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/17 "2010-05-11T01:55:29Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > “That’s because they are running in a curved path as part of using their curve to help give them something to push on, so the most direct path back to ground is not the path they ran.” > > :rolleyes: If you hit the water running at an angle, your feet will be pushing on the side of the water molecule that has the two Hydrogen atoms on it. This side of the water has greater bouyancy. It makes sense if you don’t think about it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-mountaineering/538834/18 "2010-05-12T06:30:26Z")
Boring.