BILLINGS - A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a short-term loan to keep the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club open - even as the resort's wealthy members demand to know what happened to $463 million in club dues and past loans.

The gated retreat for the rich, located on 13,600 acres in Montana's Gallatin Mountains, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday. Club representatives said tight Wall Street credit markets had shut off the flow of cash needed to pay off prior loans and operate the club's private ski hill.

Court documents show the club's debts now total $399 million, or $56 million more than previously estimated. It has $599 million in assets, the documents show.

In signing an interim order approving a $4.5 million loan through Credit Suisse, Judge Ralph Kirscher in Missoula acknowledged it will give the cash-starved enterprise enough money to operate only for the next three weeks.

Attorneys for the club had argued that denying the loan would have prompted layoffs among the club's estimated 600 employees.

''Maybe we're just delaying the inevitable,'' Kirscher said. ''I don't know what else to do.''

A spokesman for club co-founder Edra Blixseth said Thursday's loan approval was ''good news.'' Spokesman Bill Keegan said it will allow the ski hill to open for the winter season as planned in early December.

But attorneys representing a group of more than 100 club members vowed to continue their fight against the financing plan. They argue it will not fix the club's problems. Club members must buy property at the resort when they join, giving them a financial stake in its success.

''The members are getting increasingly concerned,'' said Jonathan Alter, one of the group's attorneys. ''We want to protect the long-term interests of the members and the value and viability of this club.''

In court filings, the Ad Hoc Committee of Yellowstone Club Members claimed the $250,000 deposit required for each membership had contributed approximately $88 million since the club was founded.

That's on top of a $375 million loan taken out in 2005, when the resort was under control of Blixseth's former husband, Tim Blixseth. He used at least some of that money to buy overseas properties in a failed attempt to take the club concept international. Approximately $307 million of that loan remains unpaid.

''Today, that money seems to be gone and the members want to know why,'' the Ad Hoc Committee wrote in its in court filings. ''(It) appears that a large portion of the $375 million loan ... was diverted for non-Yellowstone Club purposes.''

Prior to their divorce, the Blixseths were known for an extravagant lifestyle that included more than two dozen homes and properties, fleets of cars and boats and two luxury jets.

Tim Blixseth was once listed on the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans, with an estimated fortune of $1.3 billion. He is not on this year's list.

Keegan, Edra Blixseth's spokesman, said Thursday there was ''no basis in fact'' for claims that the Blixseths diverted club money for their own use.

He said the Blixseths already were wealthy when they founded the club, and traced its recent financial woes to the expenses of building and maintaining the resort over a period of years. The money ''was used for everything from general operating expenses to debt payments to salaries to construction,'' Keegan said.

The next hearing in the bankruptcy case is scheduled for Nov. 25 in Butte.