Chuck and Lydia Roberts met on a ski hill in New Mexico.

The longtime Rochelle couple, who have been married for 53 years, have been ski instructors together for all 53 of those years and just recently started their 50th year of ski instruction at Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin.

Lydia started skiing at 3 years old. When she was 18, she decided to start teaching skiing to have a way to pay for the hobby while in college. She’s a Level 3 skiing instructor, the highest rank, and a Level 2 snowboarding instructor.

Chuck started skiing when he was 9 years old in Alaska. He was on the ski racing team in college, and now he’s a Level 3 skiing instructor, a Level 2 snowboarding instructor and a Level 1 freestyle instructor.

After marrying and moving to Rochelle, the couple started teaching at Four Lakes Ski Area in Lisle. They then decided they wanted a hill with a little more challenge, so they started teaching at Wilmot Mountain in 1976.

“It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing it for this long,” Lydia said. “It’s just been something we’ve enjoyed doing together. It’s a shared passion. Even when we raised our son, we brought him up to the ski school and hired the children of other instructors to watch him during the day when he was little. We just made it work.”

More information on the Robertses’ ski instruction can be found online at robertsski.com. Lydia said she enjoys seeing students progress from starting as a novice and being scared of the hill to feeling like they’re in control and having fun. She and Chuck have taught people of all ages and abilities, from children to people in their 60s and 70s.

Chuck, 82, and Lydia, 73, have made “tons of friends” over their 50 years at Wilmot Mountain. They plan to keep up with the work and hobby for as long as their bodies will allow.

“It’s not too common for people of our age to ski,” Lydia said. “But if you’ve been doing it all your life, you’re still doing it unless you’ve been injured or have some other problem. But to take it up at an older age is very rare. I believe exercise is the fountain of youth. If you can keep up exercising and don’t get injured, you extend your longevity. But I never planned on doing it this long. I intended to do it until I got through college. Then I fell in love with instructing.”

Five generations of the Roberts family snow ski. Chuck and Lydia are also water-skiers. Lydia has been an Illinois state champion water-skier several times, and Chuck once ranked seventh in the country in trick waterskiing. Both have competed in waterskiing at nationals.

Near lifetimes of snow skiing, snowboarding and instructing have yielded numerous memories for the couple. They estimate they teach about 100 students per year, and have taught thousands over their 56 years.

“One time I had a class of about six kids on snowboards,” Chuck Roberts said. “I told them to do what I did. They watched as I went down. Unfortunately, I caught an edge and fell. And all the kids came down and fell down next to me and started laughing, because they all did what I did.”

Lydia Roberts said she enjoys teaching the sport to family groups and helping parents know what to coach their kids on and giving them the experience of a family enjoying an activity together.

Wilmot Mountain opened in 1939 and is one of the oldest ski and snowboarding hills in the country. Chuck Roberts wrote a book on its history titled “Matterhorn of the Midwest: A history of Wilmot Mountain Ski Area.”

Chuck and Lydia Roberts were recently given lifetime recognition for their contributions to the ski instruction community. Both have written articles on different aspects of skiing and how to teach it in new ways. They’ve seen advancements in the sport over the decades. Lydia called the improvements in equipment “amazing,” making it easier to learn how to snowboard and ski.

“When we started out, there were very long and narrow skis,” Chuck Roberts said. “Now they’re short and hourglass-shaped and easier to turn. In the early snowboarding days, we were on carving boards and almost facing the direction of travel. Now it’s freestyle, and you’re perpendicular to the direction you’re going and have to look over your shoulder.”

Chuck Roberts said he and his wife enjoy and keep teaching skiing and snowboarding because of the exercise and the time it gives them together.

“The shared activity is part of the glue that holds us together,” Lydia Roberts said. “There’s something about exercise and skiing in particular that produces endorphins. It’s a pleasurable experience. It’s something we enjoy together.”