On a mountain you will often be in stiff soles boots and the stress on the calf is different than when wearing running shoes or other more flexible footwear. The use of boots also helps simulate the stress of front pointing with crampons. This is especially useful for ice climbers.
An easy progression is to move from doing them on the ball of the foot, to doing them off the toe of the foot, and ultimately one could wear crampons and do the raise off the front points. Much harder as you shift the fulcrum point forward.