Miscalculated Risks: A Conversation with Author Michael Cooper

Join wilderness adventurer and author Michael Cooper as he shares gripping stories from Miscalculated Risks: Attacked, Crippled, Paralyzed, Drowning, Unconscious and Freezing in The Wild (Just Not All at Once). From remote canyons and wind-scoured ridgelines to trackless stretches of wild country where few people—if any—have ever set foot, Michael takes you deep into the backcountry and into the split-second decisions that turned ordinary trips into life-or-death epics. Through photos, stories and Q&A, Michael will revisit some of his most harrowing near-misses and the hard-earned lessons that came with them: how we assess risk, how quickly small mistakes stack up in remote places, and how preparation, humility and good judgment can tilt the odds in your favor when things go sideways. You’ll walk away with practical insights to make your own adventures safer, more intentional and more rewarding—without losing the sense of wild, unscripted discovery that makes the backcountry so special. Michael Cooper is a wilderness adventurer, mountaineer and backcountry navigator who has explored more than 8,000 miles of remote wildlands, including places where nobody in recorded history had gone before. His memoir Miscalculated Risks is an award-winning, bestselling narrative nonfiction book, recognized by the 2025 American Writing Awards for Best New Nonfiction and the 2025 Literary Global Book Awards for Narrative Nonfiction.