Holiday From Hell

In March, 2005, the New York Times Magazine ran a lengthy piece about billionaire Tim Blixseth’s plans to create the world’s most exclusive international resort, Yellowstone Club World.

Headlined Club Med for Multimillionaires, the article detailed how Blixseth had gone on a shopping spree for extravagant properties: a private golf club in Scotland, a 14th-century chateau near Paris, a stretch of Pacific coastline in Mexico.

Blixseth financed this dream by borrowing heavily against his biggest asset, the Yellowstone Club, a private ski resort, in Montana, that counts Bill Gates among its 300-or-so ultra affluent members.

Yesterday, the Times business section ran an exhaustive piece detailing how his plan unraveled, leaving Blixseth’s former wife, Edra, with a bill for hundreds of millions of dollars and bankrupting the club.

It’s a fascinating piece, not least because of the light it shines on one of the world’s most exclusive resorts, not to mention the Blixseth’s messy relationship:

Mr. Blixseth declined repeated interview requests. But in documents filed in the Montana bankruptcy court last Thursday, he describes Ms. Blixseth as someone who “spent millions like money grew on trees” and accuses her of being involved in “a pattern of untruthfulness and dishonest tactics.”

Among examples of profligate spending Mr. Blixseth cites in the filing is a $90,000 party that Ms. Blixseth had at Porcupine Creek for more than 100 guests. Guests were invited to whack piñatas shaped like Mr. Blixseth and which contained chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. Voodoo dolls resembling Mr. Blixseth — complete with stickpins — were also on display. (Ms. Blixseth acknowledges that the party did indeed occur.)

The Yellowstone Club, valued at $400 million a year or so ago, was sold recently for $115 million.