What can a beginner do to get better 1) generally, 2) with a fear of heights and 3) on old dummy fast narrow skis?

Despite living in Montana most of my life, I only started skiing a couple years ago, and only a couple days a year at that. This year, with a winter break for the first time in a while, I've been skiing a lot more and plan to do so the rest of this season.

Still, I don't do much more than greens and the odd blue here and there. Jumps and terrain park stuff feels out of the question because of how late I've come to the game and generally being a bit out of shape. I've started trying to hockey turn instead of pizza-ing when slowing down, but old habits due hard (damn South Park episode). I would like to change that though. Just don't like feeling out of control when I'm skiing.

The next issue I have is a huge fear of heights. There are a lot of runs that still work just fine because they're narrow and segmented, for lack of a better term. I don't see the bottom of the run and get that stupid irrational feeling where if I fall down I'm going to fall all the way to the bottom and die. If the run isn't segmented, then there's like this cartoon vertigo effect where it looks so much longer than it is and then I freak out and slam into a tree. But if the conditions are good, like a powder day when the snow is coming down and visibility is worse, for some reason that acts like a horse blinder and I can do a lot more without unconsciously losing my shit. Id like to get over this issue cause it feels like a lot of the mountain is just off limits right now because the runs are too open and steep. Most of my friends like going to a resort that's really cheap for students but the place just doesn't have any runs that are within my comfort zone to blow on a lift ticket (also the lines suck compared to the other two mountains I've been to).

Last, I just got a set of skis in my size for cheap and they're a bit old but in great condition. They just might not be good for someone as green at the sport and I'm wondering if you all have any tips to help with that. For the gear heads, they're Salamon X-Screams (I got new bindings and boots) 187 and like 70 underfoot and I'm around 6-2, 240. I've only skied on rental all-mountain gear before and the switch to these skis was insane. Id go up a lift with my buddy and he'd take a shorter steeper way and I'd take the green way down (because I'm still learning) and I'd be pulling up at the bottom at the same time he did. They're a ton of fun and I'm kind of comfortable on them but the speed is a lot for someone who doesn't really feel like he's in control. So I'm wondering how to learn and improve on skis that don't seem all that beginner-friendly.

While I have your attention, since I've only seen the term referring to my "home mountain": is Montana skiing different than everywhere else? I always assumed Cold Smoke was just a tasty beer named for the powder that kicks up behind you when you're skiing. Is the texture of Montana snow actually that different from other places or is the Bozeman chamber of commerce just that good at advertising?

Thanks for reading and I appreciate the wisdom of the community.