Incline Village, NV (April 26, 2010) –Sierra Nevada College (SNC) at Lake Tahoe, home to the West’s only four-year degree in Ski Business and Resort Management (SBRM), is opening its Center for Ski Business Studies at China Peak Mountain Resort, located in Lakeshore, California (Huntington Lake), next December, announced Rick Normington, Chair of the Department of Business. The first group of ski business majors will intern at the resort beginning December 12, 2010, one of four (4) one-week internships offered.

This new program is made possible due to the unique relationship between Tim Cohee, Program Director for SBRM at the college, and China Peak Mountain Resort, which Cohee purchased in April. Cohee has been a senior executive at a number of the nation’s leading mountain resorts for over 30 years, including thirteen as President, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of Kirkwood Mountain Resort near Lake Tahoe. China Peak was the resort’s original name until 1982, when it was purchased and renamed Sierra Summit. Cohee has changed the name back effective this May. The resort offers 1,700 vertical feet of big mountain skiing across 1,300 acres, served by ten lifts.

“I am tremendously excited to be able to offer our top students in the SBRM program the ability to get inside resort operations for an entire week without distraction,” said Cohee. “Not only will they experience firsthand how resorts operate across a variety of departments, they’ll begin to develop a sense of which area of the resort interests them most, which will point them in the right direction after graduation. It will also help them focus on seasonal resort jobs that best match their passion while they are in school.”

Said Dr. Lynn Gillette, SNC Executive Vice President and Provost, “The Center for Ski Business Studies adds tremendous value to a program that is already heads and shoulders above any other ski business and resort management program in the nation. We are taking our hands-on learning environment to a whole new level with our relationship with China Peak Mountain Resort.”

The new Center for Ski Business Studies will offer ten students at a time a choice of four (4) one-week sessions: December 12-17, 2010; January 2-7 and 9-14; and March 13-18, 2011. Students will arrive at the resort Sunday evening, stay at the resort hotel, and select five departments (out of 15) in which to spend one full day, including hotel, food & beverage, lift maintenance and operations, vehicles, marketing, accounting, human resources, ski patrol, and much more. For more information, please contact Tim Cohee at 775.831.1314, x7480, or [email protected].