Pike's Peak Pike's Peak towers over Colorado Springs, its long shadow cast from a summit height of 14,115 feet (4,302 meters). Once a centerpiece of Colorado tourism, visitors to the mountain have dropped off since the Awakening. The summit was once reachable by the Pike's Peak Highway, a 19 mile (31 kilometer) road that wound up the mountain. After 2021, the top 10 miles of the road became unpassable, the asphalt and concrete simply vanishing overnight, vegetation and earth overtaking where the road once stood. The Cog Railway, which leaves from Manitou Springs, has been updated with a powerful new engine and newer cars for sightseers. However, the railway stops 100 yards from the summit, forcing visitors to take a set of winding steps the last leg of the journey. In late October of 2021, visitors and Park Rangers, as well as researchers at Pike’s Peak Research Laboratory (formerly owned by the US Army) noticed that technology began to malfunction on the summit; little things at first, and by February of 2025 nothing more advanced than a simple pocket watch would function. Subsequent research over the years by thaumaturgic experts have not revealed the source of these events, but they have discerned that the entire summit is an aspected power site, although who or what is aspected towards has yet to be agreed upon. Pike's Peak today receives fewer visitors than in the past, and many are in fact runners. The natural distortion of both technology and magic tends to act as an equalizer, allowing meetings to take place with fewer chances for problems. Visitors, whether runners or otherwise, should be aware that the conditions at the summit are not hospitable for long-term meetings. The air is thinner, with only sixty percent of the oxygen available at sea level. Snow is likely no matter the time of the year, with hail and wind gusts in excess of 100 MPH (160 KPH) as well as the chance for lightning strikes. The average daily temperature at the summit is usually 40 to 50 degrees colder than at the base. «OOC Information: (None of this is staff approved, but may provide useful if you want to use it). Pike's Peak is an aspected power site at rating 4, aspected towards Native American shamanic magic. Technology malfunctions within 100 yards (91.4 meters) of the summit, and nothing more complex than a pocketwatch will function with any certainty. Cyberware and nanotechnology, protected by a character's aura, will function but at extremely degenerated rates. It is suggested that characters suffer at minimum a +6 on any test involving such.»