Brooke and I decided it was time to start leading traditional climbing, so we went to Kern Slabs with Mike (as our teacher) and Matt. I've lead plenty of sport climbs before, but this would be my first experience leading without the help of bolts in the rock to clip into for protection. Mike picked out an easy two pitch climb at Kern Slabs called The Lieback which is rated a 5.5 in the guidebook, but apparently more often considered a 5.7 climb. The climb seemed kind of hard while I was trying to hang on to the rock and fiddle with my gear to find the right piece to put in the crack. But once I got on to the second pitch, I felt more comfortable and realized the climb was actually much easier than it felt at first. Unfortunately, by the time the four of us finished the climb and rappelled back down, the weather was looking pretty bad. So we decided to pack up and head home before the rain started. Me getting ready to start the climb. Making my way up while Mike belays me. Not much to hold onto here. Good thing those shoes are sticky... I got some practice setting a belay anchor as well, before belaying Mike up.