GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The Aspen climber who snapped and then amputated a portion of his right arm after he was pinned by an 800-pound boulder described in detail what he went through on the day that he decided to sacrifice his arm to save his life.

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Aron Ralston, 27, held a news conference Thursday afternoon at Saint Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, speaking in public for the first time since he emerged from the canyon, bloody and dehydrated, on May 1.

He walked in to the press conference with what remained of his right arm in a cast and sling, and a digital camera in his left hand. He took pictures of the gaggle of reporters and cameras that greeted him, looking somewhat awed that he was receiving so much attention.

"I had plenty of time for solitary reflection and meditation last week, and as I reflected on my life up to this point, I realized that I had no regrets," Ralston said. "I also realized that there is so much more that I want to accomplish, so much more relationships to grow and friendships to strengthen. Of course I am looking forward to getting back to those wonderful mountains and canyons of the Rocky Mountain West."

He said he tried at several options to free himself after he was pinned Saturday afternoon by a boulder that rolled onto his right arm as he climbed over it.

"I was throwing my body against the boulder trying to see if it would budge at all, but it didn't move," Ralston said. "It took some big calm thinking to get myself to calm down and to stop throwing myself against the boulder so that I didn't hurt myself anymore than I needed to."

He said he tried all of his options, which included just waiting, chipping away at the rock with the file of his utility knife and setting up several pulley systems to lift the boulder off his hand. But none of the options seemed to work.

Finally, having gone through most of the three liters of water, two burritos and four candy bars that he had packed for what he thought was a one-day jaunt, he decided to cut off his arm from below the elbow.

Ralston said he first considered amputating his arm on Tuesday morning, but his pocketknife was so dull it wouldn't break the skin.

"I know there has been some speculation on what this knife looked like. What it was, was a multi-use tool similar to a Leatherman, but not nearly as nice of quality as a Leatherman. Essentially, it's the kind of thing that you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and you got a free multi-use tool. Because I think that's what it was," Ralston said smiling. "So I started sawing back and forth and it didn't even break the skin. It couldn't even cut the hair off my arm."

Finally on the fifth day, he summoned up technique and nerve to do the unthinkable.

He applied a tourniquet, braced his arm on some absorbent padding made from a pair of bike shorts and "got my surgical table ready," he said.

Because his knife was too dull to cut through bone, he had to first break his arm.

"I was able to first snap the radius and then within another few minutes snap the ulna at the wrist and from there, I had the knife out and applied the tourniquet and went to task. It was a process that took about an hour," he said.

After that excruciating operation, he crawled through a narrow, winding canyon, rappelled down a 60-foot cliff, and walked some six miles down the canyon near Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah.

By the time he encountered hikers and then rescuers, Ralston was just two miles from the nearest road.

The mechanical engineer-turned full-time outdoorsman said his mental state ranged while he was trapped. He said he felt depressed and remorseful at times.

"For the people that cared deeply for me, I also felt guilt that I hadn't even left a note where somebody might be able to could come to find my body or my remains before a flash flood would destroy them. There were a lot of down times like that, but the majority of the time, I was focused on pursuing one of the options," Ralston said.

When asked how he endured the pain of severing his arm, Ralston said his strength came from a higher power.

"I think a lot of it came from beyond me, and my capacity. I believe that there was a greater presence than just me in that canyon," Ralston said.

Ralston said he came to peace with death but prayed for strength to survive. He also noted that the day he freed himself was also the National Day of Prayer.

He admitted that he made a big mistake when he didn't tell his friends or family of his trip to Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah, and during the five days that he was trapped, he was most concerned with leaving behind the people in his life that he cared about.

When asked if he was proud of what he did, he answered, "I feel I did what I had to do. What I'm most proud of is who I am, the way I carry myself and how I interact in the world and I'm proud of my life."