When Tim Blixseth bought the 179,000 acres of former Boise Cascade lands across south central Idaho and a penthouse at the Grove Hotel, it appeared that Idaho would become one of the bases for the rags-to-riches timber tycoon.

But last year he and his wife Edra’s divorce turned sour and they have been selling off assets to divide their treasure. Last year it was the Idaho timber land, which also includes some prime development lands near McCall.

Now they announced they are selling off their best known asset, the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana. Blixseth is in negotiations with a Boston real estate concern, Crossharbor Capital to sell the exclusive ski resort for between $400 million and $600 million.

Both Blixseths will remain members of the club and return to ski they said in e-mails to Scott McMillion at the Bozeman Chronicle

A year ago, Blixseth appeared prepared to repeat the process that led to the Yellowstone Club in Idaho. He came to Montana in the early 1990s to buy timber land around Yellowstone that was some of the best wildlife habitat in the nation. He traded part of it to the Forest Service and developed the rest.

He was talking about land trades to protect the Payette River corridor and other pieces of the Idaho timber land before the abrupt sale last year to Potlatch. Then he said he planned to develop some of the land around McCall. He still owns 38,000 acres of former Plum Creek property in North Idaho near Powell, which includes parts of the Lewis and Clark Trail.