White Coomb

White Coomb
Dumfriesshire
White Coomb
Range:	Moffat Hills
Summit:	2,694 feet NT163151 55°25’21"N, 3°19’26"W

White Coomb is a hill in northern Dumfriesshire, chiefest of the Moffat Hills amongst the Southern Uplands. Its summit is the highest point of a network of ridges that lie north-east of the town of Moffat. The ridges are broad, but are defended by steep valleys. The summit marks the highest point in the county of Dumfries.

White Coomb is most easily climbed from the National Trust for Scotland car park underneath the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall, on the A708 from Moffat to Selkirk, at NT186146. The most direct route heads directly west up up a steep ridge, but a more comfortable route follows a well-built footpath above the north side of the waterfall. Above the waterfall, the fast flowing Tail Burn must be crossed to avoid a long detour; although there are plenty of natural stepping stones, spate or icy conditions may make their use dangerous. From across the stream, the best route through the peat and heather follows the course of a wall leading to the summit of Upper Tarnberry (1,791 feet). From there, the east ridge, which is steep and craggy in places, leads to the broad summit.

References

White Coomb and Loch Skeen from the east

• Climbing the Corbetts, Hamish Brown, ISBN 1-898573-08-5
• The Call of the Corbetts, Irvine Butterfield, ISBN 0-7153-2754-2
• The Corbetts and Other Scottish Hills, Scott Johnstone (Editor) et al., ISBN 0-907521-29-0
• The Corbett Almanac, Cameron McNeish, Neil Wilson Publishing, ISBN 1-897784-14-7
• 100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains, Ralph Storer, ISBN 0-7515-0300-2