First hoping a lift without a ticket is stealing period....no different from shop lifting, stealing a car, or sneaking on an airline flight, it's all stealing from someone else.
Yes Mammoth turns a profit and is owned by two large companies. However, most of the money the hill makes is used to improve the hill. Do you know how much a new high speed lift costs? At a min $4 mil, and they don't put in cheap short ones there, the new cloud 9 lift cost 6.5 million to put in. Resorts like Mammoth don't turn a huge profit on the hill it's usually less than the smaller local ones....why is that? Cause they are resorts, the hill is there to fill hotel rooms and sell condos and that's where they make the money.
If you can't afford the ticket save your money till you can. Poor college kid is no different than poor working stiff.