  Cherenkov telescopes have the capability of detecting high energy tau
neutrinos in the energy range of 1--1000 PeV by searching for very inclined
showers. If a tau lepton, produced by a tau neutrino, escapes from the Earth or
a mountain, it will decay and initiate a shower in the air which can be
detected by an air shower fluorescence or Cherenkov telescope. In this paper,
we present detailed Monte Carlo simulations of corresponding event rates for
the VERITAS and two proposed Cherenkov Telescope Array sites: Meteor Crater and
Yavapai Ranch, which use representative AGN neutrino flux models and take into
account topographic conditions of the detector sites. The calculated neutrino
sensitivities depend on the observation time and the shape of the energy
spectrum, but in some cases are comparable or even better than corresponding
neutrino sensitivities of the IceCube detector. For VERITAS and the considered
Cherenkov Telescope Array sites the expected neutrino sensitivities are up to
factor 3 higher than for the MAGIC site because of the presence of surrounding
mountains.
