I would agree with everything MadRiver said, but I wonder why you're not considering going up the Mt. Tecumseh Trail, then skiing down the ski area slopes? I do occasionally see people snowshoeing or skinning up, but as several people have suggested, doing so on closed trails will be a lot safer and less nerve-wracking for you.
Further on MadRiver's note: they're blowing Periphery right now, so it will be open by the weekend. This is NOT a trail I would advise skinning up on a weekend day, as it is narrow and tends to draw a lot of novice skiers with questionable control. If you're determined to go up open ski trails, I would probably opt for Lower Meadows to Stillness to South Street to Oblivion, then No Grit as MadRiver mentions (but stay hard by the edge -- it's NARROW and is the major bail-out for novice skiers coming down from the top). Once you get above the Schwendi Hut, you're good for the dash up High Country (which is a wide open slope, but you can hug either edge if the chair is running). In general, this route is follows lesser-used trails with generally gentler grades. The Boneyard-Tippe route MadRiver suggests is more direct but also a lot steeper (not being a tele guy, I have no idea how steep is too steep).
