LAWRENCEVILLE — If all goes well, sometime this spring Cason Crane will be standing on top of the world.

As the Princeton University student envisions it, he will reach the summit of Mount Everest sometime next month, open his pack and unfurl a string of Tibetan prayer flags. Each flag will be covered with messages from gay teenagers who have been bullied and the memories of parents, siblings and friends who have lost gay, lesbian and transgender loved ones to suicide.

Crane, 20, will let the flags fly in the breeze of the highest peak on the planet on behalf of every gay kid who ever doubted they could reach their personal mountaintops.

“I believe what I’m doing is a form of advocacy and activism,” said Crane, of Lawrenceville. “I’m just glad I can be the one to bring these to the top of Mount Everest.”

The two-month Everest climb is the second-to-last stop on Crane’s year-long quest to become the first openly gay person to scale the Seven Summits — the seven tallest peaks on the seven continents. Crane, who started mountain climbing as a teenager, came up with the idea as a way to raise money for the Trevor Project, a nonprofit group focused on preventing suicides among gay youth.

Crane has already scaled the highest peaks on the continents of Africa, Europe, South America, Australia and Antarctica. He leaves for Mount Everest, in Nepal in Asia, later this month. He plans to return home in June for two weeks before leaving for his final summit at Alaska’s Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, the highest mountain in North America.

If he successfully reaches the top of all seven mountains, Crane will be one of just a few hundred people to complete the Seven Summits. Though there are no official records, he and others in the mountain climbing community believe he will be the first openly gay person and the fifth youngest climber to reach the goal.

Crane said he was inspired to start his quest, which he is calling the Rainbow Summits Project, in memory of a female high school friend who committed suicide at age 16 and Tyler Clementi, a gay Rutgers University student who jumped off the George Washington Bridge in a 2010 cyberbullying case that made international headlines.

Though he did not know Clementi personally, Crane said the Ridgewood teenager's death struck a chord with him, especially because it was so close to his friend's suicide.

"As a fellow New Jerseyan, he was only a couple of years older than me," Crane said.

Crane, who came out to his family at age 14, said he has experienced some bullying and teasing in school, in locker rooms and during mountain climbs. But nothing that would lead him to consider suicide.

In the aftermath of his friend’s and Clementi’s deaths, Crane said he was startled to see studies that concluded gay teenagers are four times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers.

“At that moment, I knew I had to do something,” Crane said.

GROWING UP

The Seven Summit project is the latest adventure in what has been an atypical life. Crane, the eldest of five siblings, grew up in Mercer County. He is the son of David Crane, the president and CEO of NRG Energy, and Isabella de la Houssaye, a former international lawyer and banker who now owns an arts and antique collectibles store in Philadelphia.

Crane attended Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Connecticut, then was admitted to Princeton University. He received a one-year deferment before starting his freshman year to devote a year to learning Arabic in Lebanon and Israel.

Cason Crane, 20, at home in Lawrenceville. Crane in preparing to leave for Mount Everest on his quest to become the first openly gay climber to reach the Seven Summits, the seven highest peaks on the seven continents.

Princeton granted Crane a second one-year deferment once he came up with his idea of scaling the Seven Summits. He now plans to start his freshman year majoring in international relations in the fall, a few weeks after his attempt at scaling Mount McKinley and completing his seventh summit.

In between his mountain climbing expeditions, Crane is blogging about his quest on his website, speaking to student groups and attending fundraisers. He said he has already raised more than $80,000 for the Trevor Project, with all of the cash going to the nonprofit group.

Crane said his parents are bankrolling his costly year-long Seven Summits quest. He declined to discuss how much they are spending, but some mountain climbing websites and magazines say the cost of attempting the Seven Summits could total as much as $170,000 or more once guides, permits, airfare, equipment and training are added in.

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The cost of climbing Mount Everest alone starts at $40,000 for a guide and permits for the multi-week expedition.

Crane’s mother said she and her husband are proud of their son and the fact that he is a rare role model for gay athletes. They said they have no problem with him delaying college to complete his quest.

“We have always felt you learn by doing,” said de la Houssaye, who is also an extreme athlete who runs multi-day marathons. “That has been our way of educating our kids.”

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A FAMILY AFFAIR

Crane’s mother started him climbing. The pair took a mother-son trip to Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa when he was 15 for their first try at mountain climbing. They both loved it and eventually climbed to the summit of Carstensz Pyramid, a peak in Indonesia, together last August.

For his Rainbow Summits Project, Crane had to choose which of the two competing lists mountain climbers use to identify the Seven Summits. He is using the Messner list, considered the more challenging because it considers the difficult Carstensz Pyramid the highest peak on the Australian continent. But Crane said he has also previously climbed Kosciuszko, a mountain in Australia on the other Seven Summits list, the Bass list. So, he said, he has both lists covered.

Not that his quests have been easy. In addition to the physical challenges, scaling the Seven Summits can be a logistical challenge. Because of the weather, most of the summits can only be reached a few weeks or months of the year, and getting to the remote locations can be challenging. Climbers also must find trusted guides who are leading expeditions to the peaks.

Crane nearly missed climbing to the summit of Carstensz Pyramid because shortly before his arrival some locals had taken a group of climbers hostage. In December in Antarctica, he braved temperatures that dipped to 30 degrees below zero to reach the top of Vinson Massif.

Cason Crane, 20, holding a rainbow flag in -30 degree temperatures on top of Mt. Vinson, the highest mountain in Antarctica, in December. Crane, of Lawrenceville, is attempting to become the first openly gay climber to reach the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each continent.

The dangers of mountain climbing are also well documented. By some counts, more than 200 people have died trying to reach the summit of Everest.

So far, Crane says his biggest challenge was last summer during his first attempt to scale Mount McKinley in Alaska. His group became trapped in an epic blizzard that threatened their lives and eventually forced them to abandon their attempt at reaching the summit. Crane will make his second attempt at McKinley in June as the final mountain on his Seven Summit quest.

Crane is in his last few weeks of training for Everest and McKinley. He is spending his days at a gym in Princeton and running up and down the stairs of Princeton University’s football stadium.

He is also increasing food intake, including eating six eggs for breakfast, in an attempt to bulk up his 158-pound frame for the rigors of cold-weather climbing.

Crane is also gathering messages via his website for the prayer flags he plans to unfurl at the top of Everest. He plans to eventually leave the flags at the base of the mountain after his descent.

But Crane said he will not be disappointed if he fails to reach the top of Everest and McKinley this spring. Trying and failing to be the first gay person to reach the Seven Summits might be just as meaningful for the gay teens he is trying to honor and inspire.

“As long as I try my hardest, I will be happy.” Crane said. “We don’t always get to the summit in life. … It’s an important lesson to learn for yourself.”

RELATED COVERAGE

• Rutgers unveils Tyler Clementi Center; Lawmakers reintroduce legislation in memory of cyberbullying victim

• Tyler Clementi's parents call for apology from anti-gay marriage group that invoked son's suicide in speech

