Brian,
I suck at skiing, so bad that I have difficulty with blues. But I'm from Texas and just got into skiing this year, so that's to be expected. I wanted to do a little Touring myself this year, and I flew to WA, drove to Paradise and skinned up to Muir in June.
There's tons of snow coverage up there, the snow was pretty good and it's very open. Granted it took me about 2 hours to go from Muir to Paradise (I could have done it faster walking down) but I did learn from it, and it's about as safe as youc an get if you stay around the boot path and don't go wondering off tot he glaciers/cliffs.
I leave tomorrow to go to CO for an 8 day ski trip and should come back honed in on my skills and be a fully awesome skier! (We'll see)
I recommend the Paradise area for some fun turns. Just be cautious of Avy Danger on the steeper slopes in the area, but if you stick to the main trail(s) and off pan face, most of the skiing there is low grade, and not very prone to avalanches. Find some buddies who want to do this, go with them. Learn from them, get the knowledge and adventure out into your comfort zone!
