In reply to willoates: Well then you come back to what the UK has and NZ doesn't. UK has an huge amount of accessible very varied developed rock and there exists a very strong trad ethic.
We don't climb as hard (grade wise) as you guys because we don't have a lot of accessible developed rock to practice on. We also don't write about hard Ground Ups in our news they just get done and put in the guide book, often with no mention that they were done ground up, it's more just a first ascentionst ethic for oneself, not a way to promote oneself.
The hardest I know of at a crag which is being developed is E6 (there may be harder ground ups other crags) but I think harder ones will go in, in future.
Yup I guess all my angst is that I like the NZ term, it's been around since the 70's and it's a great way to do the first ascent of a route. Also I like that the term isn't elitist anyone can "Ground Up" a route whether it's VS or E11.