Yellowstone Mountain Club LLC, an exclusive private ski and golf resort for the super rich, has filed for bankruptcy protection as the financial crisis started affecting the high end of the real estate and leisure business.

Yellowstone Mountain Club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the federal bankruptcy court in Montana on Monday, listing assets and liabilities in the range of $100 million to $500 million.

The filing, signed by owner and developer Edra Blixseth, said the company intents to carry on business and sought expedited hearing to help it secure financing.

The club, located in the mountain area around Big Sky, Montana, near the Yellowstone National Park, has the likes of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates as members.

The club also sells housing plots on the sides of its ski slopes and golf course at prices ranging from $2 million to more than $6 million, reports said.

Yellowstone Mountain Club, the previous owner of the land, Yellowstone Development and Big Sky, which bought the property to develop ski trails, a golf course, lodges and residences together form the Yellowstone Club.

Rancho Mirage, California-based Yellowstone Development LLC, one of the two entities through which Edra Blixseth owns the club, shows assets of $500 million to $1 billion, and debt of less than $500 million.

The club, which has 13,600 acres of property and an appraised value of $778 million as of 28 June and unsold memberships worth around $336 million, said it was unable to pay its creditors because of ''decreasing revenues brought on by, among other things, economic factors causing both difficulties in obtaining credit and declines in the real estate market.''

Vendors have demanded $340,342 in late payments for construction projects, and it owes another $20.2 million to lenders, the club said.

Ms Blixseth is in an ongoing court fight with Mr Blixseth to get him removed as a manager of the club.

Edra Blixseth started the business in 2000 along with former husband Tim Blixseth.

The club got most of its revenue from property sales. The bankruptcy shows that even the high-end property is not safe from the deteriorating US real estate market.

The Yellowstone Club, which borrowed heavily when times were good, is heavily burdened with debt. In 2005, it borrowed $375 million from Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group.

Credit Suisse, which sold the loan to investors, is now acting as the agent for those investors in the bankruptcy proceedings.
 
The club expects to get a $4.5 million loan from Credit Suisse for funding operations in the coming weeks.

Greg LeMond, a club member and the first American to win the Tour de France, had in 2005 sued the club promoters for allegedly pocketing $209 million of the Credit Suisse loan as a return of capital to early investors.

LeMond won the court battle and in August this year Edra paid LeMond and three other investors $8 million and promised to pay another $13.5 million by 15 November. That payment is secured by Edra's family compound in the club.