‘75 2500 c10 in winter

okay so this was my grandpa’s truck and i’m trying to get it working but all my family is warning my how scary it is to drive in winter and how much trouble it’s gonna be for me. i just think some good studded winter tires and throwing it in second when the tires are spinning on ice will pretty much just do me good. it does get really cold here tho, there’s always days in the year where it’s at least -40 but it’s usually around -20 (celsius) and the ice gets really bad here, roads don’t get cleared unless they’re like main, arterial roads so there will be a lot of ice, and they put gravel on the roads instead of salting them, there’s also quite a few fairly steep hills that get pretty icy and it’s easy to slide down them, although i try to avoid those anyways.

so what should i expect? what would be a good way to prepare for all this? should i get wider wheels for thicker snow tires? how much weight should i put in the back to balance it out? i’m used to driving in winter but honestly, not with anything this old or heavy.