Financial collapse of luxury-resort owners

San Francisco Chronicle/NYT ^ | June 21, 2009 | Amy Wallace

[Lorianne]

Edra Denise Blixseth, age 55, is tiny, barely 5 feet 3, but she is at the center of a huge financial mess. According to personal bankruptcy papers her lawyer filed in March, she owes $500 million to $1 billion and has assets of barely half that, almost none of them liquid. Earlier this month, the court approved the sale of one of her most prized possessions - the private ski resort in Big Sky, Mont., known as the Yellowstone Club - to the private-equity firm of one of its members for $115 million. Just a year ago, that same buyer, CrossHarbor Capital Partners, had been willing to pay $400 million for the club.

The Yellowstone Club, a 13,600-acre playground 20 miles north of Yellowstone National Park, may be the world's lone members-only ski resort. Its pristine natural beauty and remote location have attracted wealthy skiers who prize their privacy, including Bill Gates of Microsoft; Barry Sternlicht, the hotelier; and Peter Chernin, president of the News Corp.

In one of the signature, fin de siecle moments of our passing Gilded Age, the Yellowstone Club filed for Chapter 11 protection last November; four months later, Blixseth followed suit - a club and its doyenne, sucked into a financial downdraft that has wounded even once-untouchable elites.

[llevrok]

The fast rising price of polo pony feed is hurting many.

[Mr. Lucky]

That’s too bad.