Started from Rock Canyon trailhead just before 6am. Observed several avalanches from Cascade that had gone over Squaw Peak Road en route to the base of Provo Peak. Overcast/foggy conditions until we reached ~8500’. No wind, but observed strong wind gusts at the summit of Provo Peak above us. Around 9300’ we began observing isolated wind-loaded pockets of snow, 6-12” deep. Some shooting cracks up to 10’ long began making us nervous. We continued but spaced out our group more out of caution. At 9650’ we decided to turn around. We continued observing propagation in the storm/wind slab with light stomps. The likelihood of triggering a 1-2’ storm / wind slab felt relatively low, but the consequence of triggering such a slide in steep terrain felt too risky for our party. We dug a pit on the wind-swept ridge we had been ascending. Snow depth just 75cm on the ridge, so maybe not super useful data, but we found very sugary snow at the ground. Probably not a problem with a deeper snowpack. Snow profile was generally right-side up otherwise. Unfortunately did not feel comfortable stepping out onto the adjacent bowl to dig a pit with a deeper snowpack. We decided to ski back down the ridge instead of the prominent SE line on Provo Peak due to our concerns about triggering a wind slab. No problems on the descent.