Rappelling harness question

For years I used a Black Diamond Bod harness on which I hooked my carabiner thru the waist and leg loops. I haven't used it in years and I ...uh... well, it shrank, okay? :) With a prairie aerie in my sights, I got a new BD Momentum AL. This one has a belay loop sewn in and the instructions say to hook the carabiner to the belay loop.

I want to verify this- for rappeling, hooking the carabiner to the belay loop alone is safe?

Now, if you're gonna tie your rope on, they want you to tie off thru the waist and leg loops. Why's that? Why is it safe to rappel off the belay loop, but you have to tie off to both loops? I guess this is because if you FALL on a climb, you're gonna jerk a lot harder than if you have continous pressure while rappelling?

FWIW, my aerie is actually only about 20' from the bottom of the cliff and my plan is to ascend up, rather than rappel down. I can probably free-climb all but the last 5' or so and the rope will mostly be my safe line. And yes, I'm going to be practicing and getting un-rusty (probably off the side of an 8' tall storage container) over the next weeks.

Hi Bryan,

I took lessons last year from a professional climber when I had to rappel into to get a peregrine, and yeah your big carabiner only goes through the belay loop. Those things are built to haul a truck, so I think your safe.