Well considering the minimum wage 10 years ago was at least a dollar less I'd say he's right on par. Liftys are the lowest of the totem pole at any ski resort and no one goes to work at a ski resort expecting to make ass loads of money so I'd say just above minimum wage is pretty damn fair. 95% of liftys and ski resort employees are seasonal employees as well and you don't find many seasonal jobs that pay more than minimum. Do you know if he offers some sort of yearly wage increase for those people that are full time year round?
Like ming said tons of smaller areas lose money during the week due to the insanely expensive costs of running lifts. It definitely also has to do with congestion, weekends see way more skiers so the resort needs to vastly expand it's footprint. As shitty as this may sound, locals are pretty much the worst thing that can happen to any resort especially a smaller resort like GP. Locals suck when it comes to spending money. Locals are smart, they bring lunch, buy season passes, they own their own equipment. They show up for a few hours, ski a bit and then they leave. Weekend warriors buy lunch, buy daily tickets, they rent and they spend money on everything and anything they can which helps out resorts alot.
$80 for a lift ticket is pretty expensive but what other resorts around you have that many trails? West coast resorts are pushing into the $170/$180 mark this season so in all reality you better get used to it.