How do you find a balance between placing your characters in dire trouble and giving them crowning moments of awesome?

As a reader, I need the former, or the story won't be interesting. At the same time, a big reason for my Dresden Fandom is that it makes my inner 14-year-old happy when I get to live vicariously through his crowning moments of awesome.

For those who don't know what I mean, here is the moment I got in Cold Days:
Even in that one little part, I knew things were going to go south soon, but for those few pages I was on top of the world.  How do authors find that perfect balance?